Utility of crypto to criminals

[IvanV]

I thought I'd start a new topic rather than talking on the FTX one.

It seems that there is a crypto currency called Monero which has much better "privacy" than bitcoin. So even more useful for criminals. Increasingly kidnappers demand ransom in Monero. I found out about this because I watched something on Netflix called The Lørenskog Disappearance. This is a dramatisation of a true incident where the wife of Norwegian billionaire Tom Hagen disappeared, and a ransom note was left demanding a large ransom denominated in Monero.

When you learn of something so very useful for criminals, you wonder why the authorities don't do a bit more to stop that kind of thing. We got all antsy about the Swiss having their secret bank accounts and got them to be a bit more transparent. So how can Monero sit there being so untransparent for all to see? Law enforcement seems to focus on cracking the blockchain to follow the money, as they can with bitcoin, rather than making it illegal to be so untransparent.

Or is it that it can live there on the internet, available to the world, and you can't stop it short of behaving like China? Because you can't apply pressure to websites in the way you can to Switzerland?

[Woodchopper]

When you learn of something so very useful for criminals, you wonder why the authorities don't do a bit more to stop that kind of thing. We got all antsy about the Swiss having their secret bank accounts and got them to be a bit more transparent. So how can Monero sit there being so untransparent for all to see? Law enforcement seems to focus on cracking the blockchain to follow the money, as they can with bitcoin, rather than making it illegal to be so untransparent.

Or is it that it can live there on the internet, available to the world, and you can't stop it short of behaving like China? Because you can't apply pressure to websites in the way you can to Switzerland?

One explanation is that the authorities usually take a long time to act. Issues need to be put on agendas, committees need to make recommendations, there needs to be a clear case that the proposed action will make a difference. Most important, it needs to be clear that taking action on one thing is more important than all the other issues as money, people, time and organizational capacity are all limited. Even when a decision has been made to act, doing something may take time. If a new or amended legislation is required then it can take years to pass a bill through Parliament.

An exception is if there is a very high profile event. Then politicians can speed up the process. But that often results in ineffective policy if it isn't thought through.