As soon as it comes down to Bitcoin or crypto in general the things you will hear from critics go something like this: It is for criminals, terrorists, and for tax evasion. Nothing good can come from this since no authority is able to intervene.

Sounds familiar? From JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon over several politicians from different countries, all the way to Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger in Omaha, the prejudice against crypto has always been the same. The good news is that most blockchains are open and public. Therefore, everything can be traced and the results might come as a surprise for most critics.

Chainalysis report provides prove

Chainalysis is a service provider that allows companies and agencies to analyze incoming and outgoing crypto transactions and monitor blockchains in general. This helps a lot in identifying fraudulent activities and protects the interest of customers as well as businesses and law enforcement.

This year’s report clearly shows two things. The value of illicit transactions has risen to a level of $14 billion. But the total share of transactions has dropped to only 0,15 %. That’s right, only 0,15 % of all transactions are connected to some sort of crime.

This number comes with a caveat since blockchain analysis has limits. The important point here is, that even within these limits there is a clear trend that crypto transactions are becoming less associated with crime overall.

Money laundering with crypto is a bad idea

The fact that crypto can easily be traced makes it also highly unattractive for big money laundering schemes. Only 0,05 % of all crypto transactions were related to money laundering in 2021 with a total value of $8.6 billion.

Sounds impressive? Not quite, because the UN Office of Drugs and Crime estimates that between $800 billion and $2 trillion in fiat currency is laundered globally every year. For comparison: The total market cap for crypto is $1.8 trillion at the time of writing.

So, yes, there are criminals who abuse this technology but crime lords are obviously not into Shiba Inu or any other crypto for that matter. The sheer volume would be perfectly traceable and that’s exactly what money launders are trying to prevent with their schemes. Still not convinced? Well, just take a good look at Razzlekhan and her husband. Sitting on one of the biggest piles of Bitcoin didn’t help them to hide at all and the case proves that laundering $4.6 billion in Bitcoin is an impossible task.