Financial Privacy

Every card swipe creates a record that goes to many places.

Who sees your purchases:

• Your bank (logs everything)
• Payment processors (Visa, Mastercard)
• The store (builds your shopping profile)
• Data brokers (buy and resell this data)
• Advertisers (target you based on purchases)

What they learn:

Purchases reveal your health, relationships, location habits, income level, and lifestyle.

How to buy more privately:

• Cash — no digital trail
• Prepaid cards bought with cash
• Virtual card numbers (different for each merchant)

Loyalty cards exist specifically to track you. The discount isn’t worth the detailed data you give away.

Yes. Cash is still the best option for keeping purchases off the radar.

Why cash works:

• No digital record
• No link to your identity
• No third parties involved
• Nothing to hack or leak

Downsides:

• No purchase protection
• Can be lost or stolen
• ATM withdrawals are still logged

Tip: Withdraw cash at random amounts and times, not right before specific purchases.

Using cash is completely normal and legal. You don’t need to justify wanting financial privacy.

Not as private as you might think.

The misconception:

Bitcoin isn’t anonymous — it’s pseudonymous. Every transaction is recorded on a public blockchain forever. If your identity gets linked to a wallet, everything you’ve done is visible.

What’s visible:

• Every transaction amount
• Complete history of every coin
• All wallet addresses involved

Blockchain analysis companies help governments trace crypto transactions routinely.

For better privacy:

• Don’t reuse wallet addresses
• Consider privacy-focused cryptocurrencies
• Understand that exchanges report to tax authorities

For everyday private purchases, cash is still simpler and more private than most crypto.

Yes, more than you’d expect.

What banks know:

• Every transaction
• Income and spending patterns
• Account balances over time
• Who you send money to

Who they share with:

• Credit bureaus
• Marketing partners (some banks sell data)
• Government agencies (required by law)
• Apps you’ve connected

What you can do:

• Opt out of marketing data sharing
• Don’t connect third-party apps to your account
• Consider credit unions (often less data sharing)
• Use multiple banks to spread your financial picture

Read the privacy policy — “partners” can include hundreds of companies.

Yes. Governments increasingly share financial information across borders.

Major data-sharing systems:

• CRS (Common Reporting Standard) — Over 100 countries automatically exchange financial account info annually
• FATCA (US) — Foreign banks must report American account holders to the IRS
• EU DAC — European countries share tax data automatically
• OECD agreements — Ongoing expansion of global financial transparency

What gets shared:

• Bank account balances
• Interest and dividend income
• Investment account values
• Real estate ownership (in some cases)

Why it exists:

These systems target tax evasion and money laundering. If you have accounts in multiple countries, assume each government knows about the others.

What this means for you:

• Foreign accounts are not hidden from your home country
• Crypto exchanges increasingly report to tax authorities
• “Offshore” doesn’t mean “invisible” anymore

Legal tax planning is still possible, but hiding money across borders is much harder than it used to be.