Although I'm sure they didn't intend it, their opening few sentences are actually a pretty good defense of why the AML/KYC system is horrible:
For decades, our government has counted primarily on the nation’s banks to identify suspicious activity and assist law enforcement and national security agencies in fighting criminals and terrorists. Executing that responsibility requires tens of thousands of bank employees and countless man-hours. But cryptocurrencies and stablecoins are increasingly becoming the coin of the realm for money launderers and terrorist financers. And unlike banks, crypto companies do not have the same obligations under current law to protect the financial system from those abusing it.
But then, relying on our good friends at Chainanalysis, the Bank Policy Institute makes the case that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are really, really bad:
Those numbers reflect a worrying trend. As the report explains, “The on-chain money laundering ecosystem — a portion of the overall illicit crypto ecosystem that reflects the laundering of funds rather than the underlying inflows associated with illicit activity — has grown dramatically in recent years, increasing from $10 billion in 2020 to over $82 billion in 2025.”[1] Crypto is funding the worst crimes: “The intersection of cryptocurrency and suspected human trafficking intensified in 2025, with total transaction volume reaching hundreds of millions of dollars across identified services, an 85% year-over-year increase.”[2] Crypto also continues to fund fraud and exploitation schemes. The FBI’s 2025 Internet Crime Report notes that the agency’s Internet Crime Complaint Center received 181,565 complaints last year with a nexus to crypto, an increase of 21 percent from 2024, totaling $11.366 billion in losses, an increase of 22 percent.[3]
Of course, they don't offer any relevant comparisons to "illicit activity" in the traditional banking system. I don't mind though: personally, I'm not convinced that money laundering should be considered a crime any more than speech -- and the fact that we've built an entire industry that puts such efforts into surveilling their customers in order to get them into trouble seems...insane?
They then go on to claim that Iran is using crypto and that this is a very bad thing. Iran also builds powerplants and uses them to provide power to their defenses and they build water treatment plants to provide water -- but I have yet to hear sane people say they shouldn't be allowed to use such technologies.
Banks can’t see inside the exchanges facilitating crypto trading and neither can governments, as these exchanges are not subject to bank-like reporting and examination.
Where do these assholes get off, thinking they should decide how everyone on Earth uses money?
The idea that a handful of institutions should act as the world’s gatekeepers is exactly why Bitcoin was built in the first place.
Exactly. Gate keepers of transactions and money supply. These people are evil. They may not realize it but it's monstrous.
Hard truth is most people prefer the safety of gatekeepers until the gate is locked against them
Yep
100%
I saw recently that Tether had frozen a couple hundred million tethers that were connected to Iran. As far as Bitcoin goes, this is good: it shows that stablecoins really aren't different from the traditional banking system.
Yes!
Thank you for not writing "free speech". It's just speech.
Its the statist ego trip god complex. Its only psychopathy that wants to control everyone else. The power wielded when you control trade between individuals is crazy.
Its the same tendency to snoop on everyone's communications with each other. The same as the desire to break into any secured systems.
Of course all of this makes law enforcement easier. Of course there is a tradeoff with crime and harm. But there are bigger tradeoffs. Those that have no malicious intent pay the price. Totalitarianism masks itself and safety and law. Any law enforcement agency would love to have keys for every lock. Be able to record every conversation and see both ends of every transaction. Like all humans they want to make their jobs easier.
These are the tools of tyranny. Never forget that.
If we can just carve out one place that's free of this shit, everyone else can have as much tyranny as they want.
Indeed
May as well argue that gravity's bad and needs to be regulated.
Tax air too. Someone on it. Be sure of that much.
Rain has been taxed and land is generally taxed
So Bitcoin is used by criminals line doesn't work anymore 🤣🤣 the gangsters are actually using a centralised stablecoin 😳 so, wait.... I would endorse Bitcoin's onchain openness but then the crims haven’t worked out lightning yet, better keep my mouth shut
Basically this is the suits crying to congress that Bitcoin needs to be put on a leash using national security as their cover!
They're putting anything on a leash that holds still long enough to allow it.
And the cover can be anything. National security, won't somebody please think of the children, bad brown-ish guy being bad (and brown), or whatever else works at the time.
Congress members love to get an assist on any of those "issues." They can claim they're doing their part™ to garner revotes.
Banning a neutral technology because bad actors use it is like banning the internet because criminals send emails.
Technology doesn't have a moral compass.
Thats what they were pushing in the past with those legislation bills, one of them being sopa, net neutrality, etc. Now they finally manage to slip in online verify id.
It’s wild how we’ve normalized the idea that every transaction deserves a government eyes on approach. Financial privacy is becoming the new radical stance.