Recently Zebec added support for Dash for their cards, in particular the Carbon reloadable one. This opens up some great avenues for living on crypto completely privately, particularly since Dash card loads happen in mere seconds thanks to instant transaction settlement.

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Here's a quick guide on how to get the most out of this from a privacy perspective.

(Note: This guide is tailored to Dash since the user experience is second-to-none, but Zebec cards can be loaded with a few different cryptos, including Zano which has strong privacy, so feel free to adapt this guide.)

Step 0: Get a Good Privacy Setup

Before anything, you want to make sure your devices, communications, etc. are already set up to maximize privacy. The full steps are beyond the scope of this article, but a brief to-do list would be:

• Get a de-Googled GrapheneOS phone
• Get a VPN
• Get email aliases from a privacy-preserving provider
• Get a VoIP number (don't use your "real" phone number)
• Get a smart watch that supports NFC payments

Step 1: Sign Up Pseudonymously

First, you'll want to sign up to Zebec under an alias, with one of your VoIP numbers, using a VPN and a private email. Use a US IP address (places like the EU may insta-force KYC on you), and a name that sounds real like Brandon Smith (something like Mickey Mouse may get you flagged as suspicious).

After you do the initial load for the Carbon card, you'll set up a MyPaymentVault account as well. Username/password reuse isn't normally recommended, but for simplicity you could reuse these from your Zebec account and treat MPV as essentially the same thing.

Step 2: Set Up Zebec for Easy Mobile Reloads

Save your login info for Zebec into the browser, and save the page to your home screen for fast one-click access. Then whenever you go to load it, you can just tap the icon, press the login button, enter the load amount, press "open in wallet," and pay the invoice from your DashPay (or other Dash) wallet. If you're fast you can get all this done in under 30 seconds, and since the Dash loads are instant, you can get from Dash in your full self-custody to privately spending it at any merchant in about 30 seconds.

Yes, saving your login credentials in your browser is never recommended, but it does immensely speed up the process of loading your card, making you much more likely to use it, and making you much more likely to only load it before you use it rather than keep larger balances on the card and not in self-custodied crypto. You can evaluate the trade-offs for yourself and make up your mind. If you do this quick-access option, you may also not want to use the same login for MyPaymentVault to check your balances. Up to you.

Step 3: Set Up Tap-to-Pay

Next, you'll want to set up tap-to-pay so you can actually use the card in the physical world. Note that GrapheneOS prevents you from doing this on your phone, since the wallet apps consider it to be a rooted and therefore "insecure" phone because it removes Google's spyware. This is where the watch comes in.

First, create a sandboxed profile in Graphene and install all the nasty Google services, Play, Wallet, etc. with a burner Google account. Second, set up your watch and use this profile to sync it. Third, add your Zebec card to the watch. You should now be set up to make in-person payments, even though you have a de-Googled phone.

Note that the watch will have a certain number of offline payment tokens, so you can use the card even when not connected to the internet, or when you're using your more private Graphene profile. Every once in a while, switch to the sandboxed profile briefly to resync the watch and refresh the payment tokens.

NOTE! Physical cards may be released at some point, at which point Step 3 can either be disregarded completely, or implemented as a backup in case of physical card loss.

BONUS: Single-Use Cards

Sometimes, the most privacy-conscious users may not want to reuse a card number, especially for certain purposes, as there's a chance the purchases can all still be linked to the same profile (even though it's pseudonymous). Thankfully, Zebec allows you to purchase single-use cards as well.

Just go into your Zebec dashboard and select the Silver option instead. You can buy a single-load card for when you don't want payments associated with your Carbon card and alias.

Remember that it's always best to use pure, direct crypto wherever you can. These kinds of hacks and private payment cards aren't nearly as good, but they're vastly superior to having all your money in fiat, outside of your custody, under your full government ID.