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In practice, KYC does little to stop any of that — but does do a lot to enable mass surveillance and oppression.

> In practice, KYC does little to stop any of that

Source? The fact that it's not infallible doesn't mean that it's ineffective.

They route through all kinds of intermediaries that handle the banking by proxy — eg, as we saw in the Panama Papers and similar leaks.

Reporting $600 in CashApp isn’t about stopping cartels, terrorists, etc; it’s about harassing sex workers and street dealers, profiling side businesses, etc.

Here is a good book on the topic of ineffectiveness of anti-money laundering:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DVLLL1X3?lv=shuf&channelId=500&p...

Podcast if you do not want to buy the book:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2026-09-08/odd-lots-wh...

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