KYC[1] methods are the easiest and what I recommend for everyone. I will only go into detail with KYC methods in this post.

A. Determine where you are. Are you in a jurisdiction that has CEXs[2] that allow you to purchase Monero with Fiat? If so, Continue to B; otheriwse, continue to C.

B. If you are in the USA/Country where you can buy Monero directly:

1. Open a Kraken[3] account. You will need to prove your identity through a service like Persona.

2. Send money into Kraken from your bank or credit card.

3. Purchase Monero on Kraken with your deposited funds.

4. 7-day hold and then you will be able to withdraw to your self-custody wallet.

Conclusion: You now own Monero. You have payed minimal fees. The government and entire financial system knows you have purchased Monero.

This may or may not be a concern depending on your threat model[4]. Many people overstate this threat—Monero is the 14th largest Cryptocurrency by market cap, it is not particularly suspicious to purchase it. It does not compromise your future Monero transactions—it is just like withdrawing cash from an ATM, the financial system and government know that you now hold cash, but what it is used for is opaque.

C. If you are not in the USA/are in a jurisdiction where you can't buy Monero directly:

1. Open an account on any KYC CEX, I recommend Kraken. You will need to prove your identity through a service like Persona.

2. Purchase any coin. I recommend Litecoin[5], but Bitcoin or anything works.

3. Create a self-custody wallet for Litecoin, I recommend CakeWallet.

4. Withdraw your Litecoin to CakeWallet.

5. Go to Trocador[6].

6. Create a swap from Litecoin to Monero.

7. Give Trocador one of your Monero addresses to send the converted Monero to.

8. Choose the exchange with the best fees/privacy to your liking (these change throughout the day).

9. Send your Litecoin from CakeWallet to the Litecoin address provided.

10. You will shortly receive Monero to the address you gave Trocador.

Conclusion: You now own Monero. You have payed a small amount of fees. Depending on the pervasiveness and intelligence of blockchain surveillance, the financial system and the government knows that you have purchased Monero, or has the ability to figure out that you have purchased Monero.

All your future transactions are anonymous. Remember, Monero is just patching one hole in making an anonymous transaction. It does not magically make you anonymous if any of these other things are not anonymous: OS, browser, IP address, identities, etc.

[1] Know-your-customer — they say it's to stop crime.

[2] Centralized Exchange

[3] As respected of a CEX as you will get. They support Monero while most other CEXs have removed it.

[4] https://www.privacyguides.org/en/basics/threat-modeling/

[5] Low fee POW (proof of work) crypto. The second crypto to be created after Bitcoin. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/HDyfsemWoAAOLVM.jpg

[6] [https://trocador.app Highly reputable instant exchange aggregator. They do not touch your funds, they just aggregate other instant exchanges and provide a guarantee for no-KYC. Excellent customer support. You will pay about a 1% fee converting your crypto through an instant exchange. Instant exchanges are CEXs, but since they deal only in Crypto and not Fiat, they can afford to easily be no-KYC.