this post was submitted on 05 Mar 2026
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Actually Infuriating
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Basically all they did was provide the credit card information because that's the only information they had saved. It's not like they just gave them his email or something like that. It's one of the biggest reasons they let you use crypto to pay for your subscription.
For thoroughness' sake, here are all of Proton's payment methods.
They accept:
If I were making an email address for a group allegedly connected to "arson, vandalism and doxing", I would've definitely gone with Bitcoin. The fact that all PM were able to do in the face of Swiss authorities acting at the behest of the FBI was connect the email address to the payment source – and that this one piece of information was easily preventable by the activist – is an endorsement to me.
Bitcoin is not anonymous. If you went with Bitcoin, they could trace all the transactions from the time it was minted. If they can get back to a known address, they can very likely trace it forward to you.
On this list of payment methods, mailed cash is probably the most anonymous. They may theoretically be able to trace it back to your general region, but it would be difficult.
You can launder Bitcoin, and you can use unaffiliated bitcoin wallets.
I have a couple wallets that I've only ever accessed with VPN, and I can buy anonymous coins on one, transfer anonymously to the other, then swap for another type of coin and spend from there.
There are some gas fees and conversion costs, but vs jail I'd happily pay them.
You can launder, but the nature of the block chain is that all transactions are public and permanent. If your laundry service is compromised two years from now, the transaction you conduct today is also compromised.