Questions about receiving donations using Liberapay and alternatives like Monero

I had a feeling that would be the recommendation, and I will definitely look into going this route. Converting crypto into fiat currency has its own challenges though.

I think I would first need to create a Bitcoin wallet and convert Monero to Bitcoin. Then I would either need to find a Bitcoin ATM or sell on an exchange, requiring a Bitcoin wallet linked to my bank. I don’t want to sell Monero/Bitcoin by meeting someone in-person.

And I do want to also have an option for people that don’t use crypto.

I think I’m still not explaining myself well enough. My user0 identity is the one used for my code contributions on Codeberg and would need to be the same identity used for Liberapay. Using this identity, I came out as trans, and I currently want to hide this aspect of myself from my bank.

So the question is whether or not Liberapay shares my username on their platform (user0) with the financial entities (Stripe and bank).

I have already created a Liberapay account; I just haven’t finished setting it up yet. When I first created the account, there was a notification that said “The ID number of your Liberapay account is *******” (I’m obviously hiding the actual number).

So I’m wondering if Liberapay uses that ID number to identify my account to financial entities instead of using my username, in order to protect my privacy. Stripe and my bank would then only see that my legal identity is linked to Liberapay ID number ******* instead of user0.

I may need to reach out to Liberapay on the fediverse. I was just curious if anyone on this forum was familiar enough with Liberapay to know the answers to these questions.

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I agree, I suggest using Bisq for your needs:

Then decide on which fiat payment methods work best for you.

Payment methods - Bisq Wiki

You can also consider Hodl Hodl:

After signing up, you can see the list of payment methods available, and even add them subject to approval.

You can use Cake Wallet to convert fiat (credit and debit cards) into cryptocurrencies such as Monero, then immediately send it to an address.

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I found a step-by-step youtube video for creating a Stripe account and learned that there is a requirement to pay for phone service. So I will not be able to use Liberapay anyway.

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Maybe Open Collective could fit your needs more, though I am thinking it won’t here. It does allow for bank transfers (See the page on bank transfers: https://docs.opencollective.com/help/fiscal-hosts/receiving-money/bank-transfers).

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Yeah, I can’t even access the main site without javascript. And direct bank transfers would probably out me to my bank anyway. Thanks for the suggestion though.

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If you are still interested in crowdfunding/fundraising platforms in spite of the various financial requirements, see this comprehensive list from Snowdrift:

Snowdrift Wiki - Other Crowdfunding / Fundraising Services

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Thank you for the link and your continued help. After looking through lots of options, I don’t think anything that currently exists will work for my needs, other than Monero. And besides setting up Monero, I will apparently need to allocate a lot of free space for the Monero blockchain.

I didn’t mention this before, but the reason I’m interested in donations is to help pay for surgery and other medical bills. Since I have projects on Codeberg, I had thought that I could use Liberapay or a similar service to ask for donations and explain my reason for asking. But these platforms really aren’t for that purpose, and I realize that I shouldn’t try to use them that way. And also, none of them are safe for me to use. I certainly don’t want to be doxxed and terrorized.

So yeah, I will eventually try to setup Monero and plan out how to safely convert it to usable currency.

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You do not have to download the whole blockchain in order to use monero. It is the recommended way, but not necessary. Many wallet apps already have the option to use nodes other people are hosting, and it is mostly safe to use. Just be sure to change the node if your wallet ever gives you a warning. You could invest the time and storage in running a node if the value or spending ever gets to a point where you become very concerned

Check out this episode of breaking monero for more details on the subject Breaking Monero Episode 07: Remote Nodes - Invidious

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When I last downloaded the entire Monero blockchain last month, it was 190.5 GB. You can prune it to reduce the size requirement.

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After reading a bit more and watching some videos, I think I’d rather use remote nodes. I would also like to implement a split wallet, so that I have an offline wallet vm and an online wallet vm, but I’m still looking into how to do that with a GUI wallet.

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You will probably be using this resource then:

If you prefer using hardware wallets instead, here are the ones that support Monero:

I have not acquired a hardware wallet for Monero just yet, but if I did, I would trust the Trezor Model T due to its open-source firmware, among other security features.

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A cold wallet is what I’m after. I need to read a bit more to find the right wallet to use for a split offline/online setup.

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If you are heading towards the direction of VMs, there is a very recent guide for separate Monero wallets on Qubes OS:

There is also another older guide that still works for creating Monero wallets in Qubes-Whonix, starting from this post:

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Hey, sorry for the delayed response.

Thanks for the links. I had already come across them in my research, and while they are helpful, I don’t want to use this approach. After some more research, I’ve decided that the Feather Wallet flatpak is what I want.

I’ll hopefully have it setup soon and will probably add it to my “About Me” post.

Thanks again for the help.

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Okay, I have configured a split Feather Wallet setup. Before sharing an address for receiving donations, I would appreciate input from anyone knowledgeable about Monero:

  • What is the best approach for receiving donations?
    • Primary account or subaccount?
    • Primary address or subaddress?
  • Are there any drawbacks from one option over the other?

I’ve seen donation pages with the primary address of the primary account, but I’ve also seen some using a subaccount/subaddress. So is one option obviously better?

Thanks.

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It is generally recommended to use sub-addresses. It does not really matter much though. Just don’t use the same address for different identities. You can assume Monero by itself is very private. It is hard to do something wrong. Revealing your identity is generally done by bad opsec elsewhere, like giving the same address to someone who knows you as on your secret donation page.

You can assume different sub addresses are not linkable. If you want to be even safer, you can use different wallets for different identities. Transaction fees are low, so it is no problem to move XMR around.

If you are curious about best practices I recommend watching through all episodes of breaking monero.

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Thank you. I guess I just wanted to be reassured that subaddresses are the way to go. I’ve added a specific subaddress to my profile here on the forums, my profiles on the fediverse, and Codeberg.

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This is probably how I would personally approach it using hardware wallets. To keep track of different identities, use different silicone covers or other marker for each wallet, colour-coded based on delegated trust/value similar to Qubes OS. The Trezor Model T, for example, has five different options:

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I definitely see the benefits of going that route, but I don’t plan on having any other identities for Monero.

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Sure, in that case, I would just use the primary address of the primary account. If you ever need to increase your identities in any way, you can either generate subaddresses or additional separate Monero wallets.

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