I'm interested in approaches for this, bearing in mind that I don't know people in real life who I can give cash for crypto, and can't mine coins. I wanted to buy some tokens to set up a side project, but the prospect of giving all my details to Coinbase or some other exchange is unappealing.

There are various p2p platforms for meeting people with whom you can exchange fiat for crypto (and vice-versa) directly. Some of these platforms include an escrow system (LocalBitcoins is the most well-known of that type, but I think it has KYC requirements), others rely on a 'web of trust' style system, etc.

It's a similar question to "do tell how the average person is going to benefit from the right to repair?", or "do tell how the average person is going to benefit from free software?". All these three questions have the same answer: By relying on the free market competition, by paying someone sufficient money, or by learning to use the technical tools.

Crypto can be exchanged locally and anonymously with your friends, too.

Cool, so do explain. This is HN, I’m sure we’d all like to understand.