Yeah, it's absolutely insane. I don't mind a small premium, but that's just way too high for it to be worth it for me. They don't require any KYC besides your phone number, which is okay with me, but you're obviously paying extra money for the "luxury" of the basic rights of privacy and security.

My concern is that if I'm doing peer-to-peer without a trustworthy mediator of some sort, then I'm basically putting my money at risk and I can't afford that at this point in my life. And honestly, even though I do believe in Bitcoin, I'm not so desperate to use it that I'm going to go to insane trouble just to get it. Hopefully the KYC laws will relax a little now that we have a pro-Bitcoin president on the way, but again, not holding my breath too much. 

 well, idk, i guess that's the price of minimal bullshit right now... since it's a percentage you can do smaller amounts and it's smaller amounts they take

i've been in this since 2012 and so i'd say that this is probably par for the course, money changers gonna money change, and this is why also a lot of bitcoiners move to more friendly places 

 Well, I guess it's really out because I don't plan on moving out of my town and if I do, I don't know if I'm necessarily going to find my way to countries that are more friendly towards Bitcoin. 😬 

 well, this is the world as it is, not as you wish it to be 

 True, I just hope that I don't get any more grief from some of the Bitcoin maxis (not you) that act as if I'm making excuses for not being able to use it. It definitely does suck, though, that I have to continue using the fiat system because of all their nonsense regulations which keep us locked in.  

 bah fuck them, if they don't read your account of your experience then they don't deserve your attention

besides, most of them have their ways to get cash and could actually help you out

i'm sure during this bull market there will be a lot of people starting up who have piles of bitcoin, who convert a part of it to cash and start selling it p2p

the amount of bullshit governments are doing these days to try and enforce their protection racket is probably higher than it ever has been 

 I'll be keeping my eyes open for any kinds of potential ways to get it to work for me, but I'm not going to actively hunt either because it just frustrates me when I realize none of them work (and I definitely don't need more stress on my plate right now).

I guess the best thing I can do is continue to research and keep my eyes open so that if something does come up, I'll know how to use it. 

 Hope you find your compadres for making buying #bitcoin simple for you 

 Hopefully someday!