[SamDc73]

One of the many reasons I love Mullvad (been using it for 4 years now) is their simple pricing—$5/month whether you subscribe monthly, yearly, or even 10 years out.

I wanted to give your product a try, but the gap between the 1-month and 2-year plans is so big that a single month feels like a rip-off, while I’m not ready to commit to 2 years either.

On payments: for a privacy-focused product, Monero isn’t just a luxury, it’s a must (at least for me). A VPN that doesn’t accept Monero forces users into surveillance finance, since card and bank payments are legally preserved forever by processors. That means even if the VPN “keeps no logs,” the payment trail still ties your real identity to the service.

[greentea23]

But then aren't you messing with the IRS? If you pay in crypto, you have to report every conversion from fiat to monero, and every payment out of the monero wallet: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/taxpayers-need-to-report-crypto...

Until crypto is legally treated like cash (e.g. I don't have to report that I bought a beer with a $20 bill from an ATM), I don't think it's a very satisfying solution to have to either 1. Report to the IRS that I bought a VPN with monero or 2. Commit a tax crime and be paranoid about the IRS using automated tools to find you out for years after each transaction.

Even ignoring that elephant inthe room, how do you regularly (to pay subscription) get the crypto without leaving a paper trail or dealing with sketchy people?

I like virtual cards like privacy.com. If a state actor is after you, they will find you. So the typical threat model to me is companies trying to track you, like your ISP/Google/Facebook.

It would be nice if there was some way to be tax compliant and get the privacy benefits of monero though. Am I missing some crypto tax compliance tooling here or are all of these crypto payment users just poking the IRS bear?

[fallpeak]

> If you pay in crypto, you have to report every conversion from fiat to monero

That's not what your link says, and as far as I'm aware it's not true. Buying crypto and then using some of it to buy goods and services has no tax reporting requirement, those only start when you're either selling crypto or receiving it as payment. Which is the same situation as the tax reporting for any other currency or valuable item you could deal in.

[greentea23]

> Disposed of digital assets in exchange for property or services

Reads pretty explicit to me. You have to report every event.

[adikso]

I don't know what payment methods this VPN supports (it requires sign-in), but on Mullvad you also can send cash in an envelope.

[kqr]

Which are the other reasons, and which other providers have you evaluated? Asking because I might soon be in the market.

[SamDc73]

to me at this point I only would trust these in this order: Mullvad IVPN ProtonVPN

Mullvad is the only one that have RAM-only (diskless) servers. Both Mullvad and IVPN have Monero as a payment method (which is the best for privacy) and both have Anonymous sign-up no email required.

Proton is last because they don't support Monero (only BTC which isn't very anonymous by design)

All have third party independent audits and are OSS

[kqr]

Thanks! Mullvad does look good.