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Comment by nadspoly | Hacker News Reader

You're not gonna like it but I think buying crypto might provide this. Many projects/teams/small startups provide the equivalent of equity via their tokens. Investing in those is a bit like providing seed funds.

Of course, tons of scams, but there's some real projects out there too.

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The problem with crypto is that there is no good on-ramp.

For example: To buy crypto on Coinbase, you have to send them a scan of your passport and your bank accounts. I don't want a foreign company to have a copy of my passport.

I'm fairly skeptical of cryptocurrency hype personally, but if you want to invest 6 figure sums in a startup company, that's a legal agreement, and you're going to be giving a lot more personal information than that to the entities involved. This is no time to be squeamish about who has a copy of your passport.

It is not about providing informtion. But having a copy of my passport allows the other party to identify as me to other parties. That is something I want to avoid.

Not entirely true. You can use https://localbitcoins.com/ to buy bitcoin without an exchange and then use Uniswap to invest into up and coming tokens. If they're on Coinbase, it is often already too late to be an early stage investor.

I thought localbitcoins was made illegal in the USA unless the seller has a certian money handling license? It could just be an NY/CA thing, but still...

Localbitcoins seem to do the same digital KYC dance as Coinbase. So you will probably also have to copy your passport for them.

Unless you're in a country that literally outlawed any form of crypto you must have some sort of local company/exchange that would take your money so you can trade. You just have to look for it.

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