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Do you have any source for your claim "Criminals still primarily use regular ole' fiat currency for this stuff"? Isn't it much easier to get paid for your ransomware in crypto and remain on chain without having to touch fiat and getting blocked by sanctions?

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The illicit drug trade far exceeds the number of ransomware events and they use almost exclusively fiat.

So you don’t disagree that extortionists use crypto to monetize their illegal activity at scale.

I think they're saying that they're not mutually exclusive.

I agree, using the argument of "x is a tool for illegal activities" is brittle because you could say that about literally anything.

You could attribute the same thing to Amazon and Google gift cards being used in scams.

You can't buy a $1MM Amazon gift card. That would be incredibly useful for illegal activity but more or less useless as a gift card.

When financial instruments are primarily used for licit activity, we tend to add features that make illicit activity more difficult but accept that some illicit use will occur. That's why we still have $100 (but with serial numbers) and don't have bearer bonds any more.

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