It could be that I’m wrong in my reasoning, but it appears to me that bitcoin allows tax evasion and black markets to function on such a breathtaking scale.
Bitcoin has less anonymity than cash. Every movement of coins is recorded in a publicly verified ledger. You can use some trickery like CoinJoins to try to regain some privacy, but even these can be mitigated by state-level actors, and don’t solve the problem that actually spending coins typically revels your real-world identity to the merchant you are interacting with (who must comply with local KYC laws).
You know what allows tax evasion and black markets on a breathtaking scale? Greenbacks. Do you think a criminal—even a technically competent one—would prefer a suitcase of cash or bitcoin transaction? One of these is, outside of extenuous circumstances, truly anonymous and untraceable.
Bitcoin has less anonymity than cash. Every movement of coins is recorded in a publicly verified ledger. You can use some trickery like CoinJoins to try to regain some privacy, but even these can be mitigated by state-level actors, and don’t solve the problem that actually spending coins typically revels your real-world identity to the merchant you are interacting with (who must comply with local KYC laws).
You know what allows tax evasion and black markets on a breathtaking scale? Greenbacks. Do you think a criminal—even a technically competent one—would prefer a suitcase of cash or bitcoin transaction? One of these is, outside of extenuous circumstances, truly anonymous and untraceable.
Suitcases of cash are harder to ship long distances.