Cash, diamonds, etc are actually better for crime than cryptocurrency because they're less traceable.
Hard to do ransomware though.
You often have to declare more than $10K of cash when traveling so cash makes it hard to flee your crimes.
It depends on use case. Physical valuables are less traceable because there's no global ledger for transactions, but they're more "traceable" if your threat model includes law enforcement raiding your house and office, while crypto is basically a bunch of numbers in your head.
If cryptocurrency wasn't so volatile it would be better than worthless government paper because 1) cryptocurrency doesn't lose its value at rate of 2-13% per year 2) nobody will ban your cryptocurrency account if you use it for business 3) nobody will require to provide documentation and proof for every transaction that happened in last 6 months in your account.
> 3) nobody will require to provide documentation and proof for every transaction that happened in last 6 months in your account.
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Except for the government when they, very easily, match your public blockchain activity to your personal identity.
Keep in mind that some things you do regularly may be considered crimes by other governments, and perhaps your own government at some point in time.
Don't forget speculation/gambling which is probably a larger business than even crime.
you mean, stock market?
I guess the stock market is maybe 30% speculation, 70% actually investing in companies? Crypto is maybe 90% speculation, property 20% speculation? You can't really separate the two very cleanly but a lot of speculating goes on.