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> No! We love our stodgy ancient corrupt banking system and the money laundering crooks that run them...

Ah yes- Cryptocurrencies are definitely going to put money laundering crooks out of business.




Why not? If anyone can launder money with a click of a button, why would you pay corrupt bankers to do it? It's the same idea behind legalizing drugs to put cartels out of business.


Because the lack of centralized authority de facto means that you accept money laundering as a non-issue. Your thesis that by "not paying corrupt bankers" the issue goes away is nuts. Entire technology stacks - Zcash, Monero, tumblers - exist to satisfy this desire. This idea that not paying middle men makes money laundering go away is bananas.

Legalizing drugs doesn't make drugs go away. Legalizing drugs makes the middle men go away. If you're trying to stop drugs, this is a dreadful way of doing it. The argument implicit in legalization is there's no reason to stop people using drugs, and that the real harm comes from the middle men. This is not the case against money laundering.

There's good reason to stop money money laundering. If you're intent on concealing the original source of your funds it's because you're attempting to conceal criminal activity and/or tax evasion. This criminal activity is what AML laws are attempting to stop.

C'mon now, a full 1/3 of Tether's bankroll was seized by regulators due to their having been a massive party to laundering.

You can't really be making this argument with a straight face... can you?




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