Why criminals prefer cash (Fiat) on top of crypto?

[Newlifebtc]

Criminals will be afraid of bitcoin even the machine been Bitcoin ATM machine center were transaction is done, because the way am seeing the criminals you will know that they don't need stress or delay in any of their operation, fiat currency is very easy to trap from bitcoin because is money that is popular to everyone and is easily to be spend.

[1714473691]

1714473691

[Ngewex Yuk]

Of course, the reason is simple, namely fear that if the money stored in crypto will be of no value, as we know that there is a lot of negative news about crypto, namely if we invest, we will lose and lose money because the value is not clear, this is what makes many countries afraid to invest. legalize crypto so criminals don't want to save into crypto.

[STT]

Liquidity and closed exchange where as BTC has a ledger for everything.   Dollar is still far bigger, a whole suitcase of even moderate size bills is enough to cover most transactions and nobody will ever know the details of the seller or any parties who received or gave the money.   If BTC wasnt open ledger I think government would have opposed it far more then anything now, if anything its an aid to government in that respect despite being the alternate to officially issued dollars.

[bekti3]

Criminals prefer fiat because they find it faster and easier without accessing anything on the internet. They see it as less complex that they could do transactions even without the use of the internet. However, some modern criminals prefer using cryptocurrency because of the anonymity that it provides. Traditional criminals aren't knowledgeable about cryptocurrency yet.

like you said because they really prefer things that are instant and don't want to be complicated about complicated procedures.
maybe even compared to fiat they prefer real money directly when transacting because indeed this does not require excessive things and is very simple to do.

As for what you said, there is some truth to anonymity and until now bitcoin is still considered a tool for terrorist financing based on this.
but actually if we look at the current cases it is very rare for this to happen

I think there are two ways to look at it.
1) When it comes to hacking or siphoning off money, I expect it to go the same way as a bank robbery. Before the age of internet, bank robbery implied a group of men physically entering the bank and robbing money/gold. Did it change as soon as the internet began? No. It took some years for criminals to understand internet and how to use it effectively to siphon money, which is very ubiquitous in today's world (hardly we get to hear about physical bank robbery today). With the pseudonynomity of bitcoin, it becomes relatively easier as compared to creating a fake account and closing it as soon as the transaction is done.

2) However, for money laundering, the two important differences are: a) It's mostly done by people who are well known in public space such as politicians, heads of big organizations, celebrities etc. as opposed to hacking which is mostly done by unknown people/groups and b) Even with so much advancement in the notorious use of internet, money laundering is largely restricted to cash.  This means that money laundering people care a lot about anonymity. Although people claim bitcoin is anonymous, it's pseudonymous to be honest. And history (Mt. Gox case for example) shows us that stolen bitcoins can be recovered. I'm not saying that people won't use bitcoin for money laundering at all. They will and may be that number might increase with time due to better understanding of crypto, but majority of them will stick to cash manly because of the anonimity and difficulty of tracing cash transactions.

Let me know what you guys think  

very good and like you said, it takes prosen to know and follow the current flow, especially for bitcoin.
need a process to really figure it out and make them usable as this requires some knowledge (minimum basic knowledge) and the criminals won't be focused on it.
on the other hand there must be cheating at any level and in any case because indeed bad people will always make things to their advantage with the strength of the supporters they have.
I don't want to say influencers and artists or streamers are really bad people but their act of making people believe what they say (eg pump meme coin) is something that is quite evil.
regardless of whether they do not invite or anything but they are public figures that indeed everything they do will surely be followed by many people including misleading things

[Doell]

Of course, the reason is simple, namely fear that if the money stored in crypto will be of no value, as we know that there is a lot of negative news about crypto, namely if we invest, we will lose and lose money because the value is not clear, this is what makes many countries afraid to invest. legalize crypto so criminals don't want to save into crypto.

it's not a problem on price but knowledge itself ! news about countries don't want adoption but society and ppl still want to own crypto especially bitcoin ! this transparent system with traceable addresses is something that make criminals doubt ,besides that their knowledge doesn't necessarily know what crypto is ! the difference is the criminal himself is he the one with the tie or the one who likes to wear a pickpocket hat

[geegaw]

Of course, the reason is simple, namely fear that if the money stored in crypto will be of no value, as we know that there is a lot of negative news about crypto, namely if we invest, we will lose and lose money because the value is not clear, this is what makes many countries afraid to invest. legalize crypto so criminals don't want to save into crypto.

When storing in cryptos with no potential, the result will inevitably be a loss of value, even a lot of damage as criminals always place very large orders of value but the percentage of such opportunity is not high when the criminal also has a technology team and has a very good money laundering ability. They do not direct many images to crypto due to fear of transaction time not allowing, besides, in order to make what is owned in crypto valid, need to join exchanges then transfer money through bank, once banks get warning about these black money they will freeze, so cash seems more suitable as a fugitive

[Abiky]

Liquidity and closed exchange where as BTC has a ledger for everything.   Dollar is still far bigger, a whole suitcase of even moderate size bills is enough to cover most transactions and nobody will ever know the details of the seller or any parties who received or gave the money.   If BTC wasnt open ledger I think government would have opposed it far more then anything now, if anything its an aid to government in that respect despite being the alternate to officially issued dollars.

Liquidity for Fiat currencies is a lot higher than crypto. Not only that, but most merchants and businesses use Fiat as a medium of exchange. For this and many other reasons, criminals won't abandon Fiat in exchange for crypto. Privacy coins are an option, but they're widely volatile in price and are less adopted than traditional cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. Bitcoin has a transparent blockchain ledger, so it's easy enough for governments to catch malicious actors on-chain. I'd prefer it to stay that way in order to legitimize the crypto space as much as possible. With most criminals out of crypto, we should have nothing to worry about. Just my opinion

[LUCKMCFLY]

It is very difficult for a drug trafficker to believe in cryptocurrency technology because they will not accept the fact that they can go down in price and they know that if they go down in price they will lose money, and they are not that kind of person, if you are in Mexico, a drug dealer from that country is not only the most jealous of all with money but the most bloodthirsty, simply for them there are no losses, some prefer to die before being captured or having their money taken away, the case of the cartels in Colombia They are less bloodthirsty but they do not leave any money to the government and much less to the DEA, for this reason they prefer fiat money.

[Lanatsa]

It is very difficult for a drug trafficker to believe in cryptocurrency technology because they will not accept the fact that they can go down in price and they know that if they go down in price they will lose money, and they are not that kind of person, if you are in Mexico, a drug dealer from that country is not only the most jealous of all with money but the most bloodthirsty, simply for them there are no losses, some prefer to die before being captured or having their money taken away, the case of the cartels in Colombia They are less bloodthirsty but they do not leave any money to the government and much less to the DEA, for this reason they prefer fiat money.

Volatility would be the main issue on here even though it can be somewhat be tracked but they've been doing these on ages and still haven't bust up nor get rid off which simply implies that it do still
works and now that crypto did exist and they are aware off on how volatile it is then its true that most of them wouldn't really want to lose even just a little on what they are currently holding
or had able to stole or hacked or something like that.

Crypto would be just an option for them to take which I could say that this would be their last resort if they would really intent for them on not on being traced up
coz its simply anonymous which is really a great recipe on hiding off your crime.

So its a matter of situation on which one would be ideal to make use.

[LUCKMCFLY]

It is very difficult for a drug trafficker to believe in cryptocurrency technology because they will not accept the fact that they can go down in price and they know that if they go down in price they will lose money, and they are not that kind of person, if you are in Mexico, a drug dealer from that country is not only the most jealous of all with money but the most bloodthirsty, simply for them there are no losses, some prefer to die before being captured or having their money taken away, the case of the cartels in Colombia They are less bloodthirsty but they do not leave any money to the government and much less to the DEA, for this reason they prefer fiat money.

Volatility would be the main issue on here even though it can be somewhat be tracked but they've been doing these on ages and still haven't bust up nor get rid off which simply implies that it do still
works and now that crypto did exist and they are aware off on how volatile it is then its true that most of them wouldn't really want to lose even just a little on what they are currently holding
or had able to stole or hacked or something like that.

Crypto would be just an option for them to take which I could say that this would be their last resort if they would really intent for them on not on being traced up
coz its simply anonymous which is really a great recipe on hiding off your crime.

So its a matter of situation on which one would be ideal to make use.

Yes, it is a last option, although it is also a lot of money that can be handled in that sense, I think one way to do it is through stablecoins, because transferring FIAT money from one country to another, or even from the same state to Another state in the same country is complicated, especially if the authorities discover that amount of money, although in countries like Colombia, those who engage in these activities buy from everyone, from police to military who guard their own limits, their mode of operation is to offer them money, money they have never seen in their lives.

[paxmao]

Of course, the reason is simple, namely fear that if the money stored in crypto will be of no value, as we know that there is a lot of negative news about crypto, namely if we invest, we will lose and lose money because the value is not clear, this is what makes many countries afraid to invest. legalize crypto so criminals don't want to save into crypto.

I do not think they believe in crypto in the same terms as a hodler would be, like a future investment and a store of value, but I do think that they see the merit of many cryptos being anonymous or pseudo-anonymous and that is obviously a tool of any shady trade. The fact that they may get paid in bitcoin without having to carry around money is clearly on the wish list of any dealer of banned or restricted stuff but that does not mean that they cannot convert quickly to fiat as needed - they are using crypto for convenience not for true understanding.

[Abiky]

I do not think they believe in crypto in the same terms as a hodler would be, like a future investment and a store of value, but I do think that they see the merit of many cryptos being anonymous or pseudo-anonymous and that is obviously a tool of any shady trade. The fact that they may get paid in bitcoin without having to carry around money is clearly on the wish list of any dealer of banned or restricted stuff but that does not mean that they cannot convert quickly to fiat as needed - they are using crypto for convenience not for true understanding.

Exactly. If criminals become attracted to crypto, they will only use it as a digital currency (not a store of value). Anonymity and ease-of-use comes first, so if crypto meets those requirements, it'll surely bring criminals' attention in the mainstream world. Around 90% of all cryptocurrencies have transparent blockchain ledgers, so it's hard to believe criminals will use them for nefarious purposes anytime soon. They're better off using cash (paper money) than anything else.

Besides, most (if not all) centralized crypto exchanges require ID verification. Criminals can still get access to crypto without going through a centralized exchange, but that requires a certain level of technical knowledge. With crypto's many limitations, Fiat will remain as the leading currency for illegal activities. Just my thoughts

[bengsabeng]

Of course, the reason is simple, namely fear that if the money stored in crypto will be of no value, as we know that there is a lot of negative news about crypto, namely if we invest, we will lose and lose money because the value is not clear, this is what makes many countries afraid to invest. legalize crypto so criminals don't want to save into crypto.

I'm not sure if at this time there are still investors who believe in such news. indeed the price of bitcoin is not clear because the price of bitcoin can not be predicted, but this is not an excuse if bitcoin or crypto is a bad investment. all investments certainly have their own risks, although the risk of investing in bitcoin is quite large but you also have the opportunity to get a big return as well.

[awik p]

Of course, the reason is simple, namely fear that if the money stored in crypto will be of no value, as we know that there is a lot of negative news about crypto, namely if we invest, we will lose and lose money because the value is not clear, this is what makes many countries afraid to invest. legalize crypto so criminals don't want to save into crypto.

I'm not sure if at this time there are still investors who believe in such news. indeed the price of bitcoin is not clear because the price of bitcoin can not be predicted, but this is not an excuse if bitcoin or crypto is a bad investment. all investments certainly have their own risks, although the risk of investing in bitcoin is quite large but you also have the opportunity to get a big return as well.

to soar higher it begins with a crash on bitcoin and is followed by most altcoins. even the decline in bitcoin is sometimes deliberately done to benefit the whales. and I think crime can occur in every element which of course has certain weaknesses and I think it is very natural to happen, and of course there are ways to prevent it if we are not negligent

[milewilda]

Of course, the reason is simple, namely fear that if the money stored in crypto will be of no value, as we know that there is a lot of negative news about crypto, namely if we invest, we will lose and lose money because the value is not clear, this is what makes many countries afraid to invest. legalize crypto so criminals don't want to save into crypto.

I'm not sure if at this time there are still investors who believe in such news. indeed the price of bitcoin is not clear because the price of bitcoin can not be predicted, but this is not an excuse if bitcoin or crypto is a bad investment. all investments certainly have their own risks, although the risk of investing in bitcoin is quite large but you also have the opportunity to get a big return as well.

to soar higher it begins with a crash on bitcoin and is followed by most altcoins. even the decline in bitcoin is sometimes deliberately done to benefit the whales. and I think crime can occur in every element which of course has certain weaknesses and I think it is very natural to happen, and of course there are ways to prevent it if we are not negligent

Trend maker we do say and its been always been like this because bitcoin is the main ones where the market is where heading on and if its bearish or drops then it would really be normal for the entire market to be heading on the same situation. Why need to freak out if you could see these movements to be
downward if you could actually make some entry on buying back while its still cheap rather than freaking out and selling for lose?

Going back into the topic on why criminals do still prefer fiat? Doesnt really matter which one because they all matters on how they would exploit those.

[Gyfts]

There may be several reasons for this.  In general, of course, cash is less traceable than cryptocurrency.  Also, not all criminals are well versed in cryptocurrency.  Therefore, they are simply afraid to use it.  On the one hand, they are afraid that they can be identified, and on the other hand, that they will not be able to cash out the cryptocurrency in the end.

That's certainly true, mate. Physical cash will always be the leading choice for criminals, because of its anonymous nature. Not to mention, it's always stable in price. Criminals will need to exercise extreme caution when using crypto in order to avoid leaving any trace that would create a link to their identity. While there's already a solution for full-fledged privacy on crypto, it's somewhat complicated for the average person to understand. I doubt criminals will take the time to study crypto in order to use it for their nefarious actions. As Fiat is much easier to use than crypto, it'll continue to dominate the "underworld".

At least, crypto land will be able to enjoy legitimate use cases in the mainstream world. The less illegal activity there is on crypto/Blockchain tech, the better it'll be for its approval by governments worldwide. These entities will give crypto the "green light" as long as the majority is contributing towards a good cause. The day when most people conduct illegal transactions on crypto, will be such when governments crack down on the entire industry. Considering that the number of malicious actors are slightly reducing on the crypto/Blockchain space, it shouldn't be long enough before the whole industry is legitimized. I wouldn't worry about criminals on crypto, as most blockchain networks are open for anyone to explore. Governments can simply track & trace transactions on transparent blockchain networks like Bitcoin and Ethereum in order put illegal activities to rest. Just my thoughts

Cash is hardly anonymous. The logistics of keeping cash on hand is a nightmare. You can never deposit it in a bank, and no retailer will accept cash on large orders with requiring documentation on the purchase. If you're talking low level criminals with small amounts on hand, that's another story, but anything in the hundreds of thousands, perhaps even less, isn't anonymous. This is why money launderers exist, taking illegitimate money and converting it into legitimate money that the government recognizes to be legitimate.

Bitcoin does not have that issue, bitcoin is a bitcoin. I'm not advocating that bitcoin is for criminals, just that government requires cash to be registered in large amounts. You cannot casually deposit large amounts in your local currency without having the government asking where that money came from.

[Ozero]

It is very difficult for a drug trafficker to believe in cryptocurrency technology because they will not accept the fact that they can go down in price and they know that if they go down in price they will lose money, and they are not that kind of person, if you are in Mexico, a drug dealer from that country is not only the most jealous of all with money but the most bloodthirsty, simply for them there are no losses, some prefer to die before being captured or having their money taken away, the case of the cartels in Colombia They are less bloodthirsty but they do not leave any money to the government and much less to the DEA, for this reason they prefer fiat money.

It’s not that criminals don’t believe in cryptocurrency technology. First of all, they want them not to be installed by law enforcement agencies. They know that law enforcement will do their best to find them. And cryptocurrencies often leave material traces. Under what circumstances and which ones, not all criminals know about it. That's why they don't want to take risks. Cash is the most untraceable and easy to use money that has been known for a long time. But in the world of cryptocurrencies, everything is constantly and rapidly changing. The rules for trading on exchanges are changing, and it is increasingly necessary to leave your identification data. Criminals are afraid that they will not be able to cash out the cryptocurrency without leaving their traces.

[gantez]

Of course, the reason is simple, namely fear that if the money stored in crypto will be of no value, as we know that there is a lot of negative news about crypto, namely if we invest, we will lose and lose money because the value is not clear, this is what makes many countries afraid to invest. legalize crypto so criminals don't want to save into crypto.

Legalization of crypto can be the solution for fiat theft and fradulent activities around fiat by criminals. If crypto is gave that legal standing it can help savings in coins to increase and you can choose to convert more money to hodl in crypto and nothing will happen to it there. Fiat currency is a scam tool for scammers, it is easier for them to play smart one on people.

[stepwilli]

Simply, they have no knowledge yet on how to store value in cryptocurrency. I think if they have some options in keeping their stole money, they probably choose to store it in anonymous and secured place. We just be thankful because cryptocurrency is not yet the main wallet that theft and other criminals use when they want to store. But for sure, there are criminals that are hiding their money in cryptocurrency specially those who are in government position that is corrupt.

This is one of the right reasons, because for beginners it is quite difficult to save their money in the form of cryptocurrencies, especially those who do not have the basic knowledge for it.
But if they do that, I think it will give crypto itself a bad image. Yes, we know that cryptocurrencies are currently still being rejected by some people and even countries.

How do we know that all criminals are beginner and what about the criminal that attacks online. They have a knowledge in crypto already but if they are completely new to it they can still be able to learn it. Even kids now knows how to operate a crypto and if they do it, that wont really create a bad impact on the reputation of crypto. We can just assume that criminals are now using crypto because crypto is now popular.

Ever since before we always have news about hacks and thefts but cryptos and crypto supporters are still here. Nothing have changed to them and if there are countries or people that reject crypto, that was because of other reasons.

[glendall]

Maybe criminals prefer Fiat because of its high level of adoption in the mainstream world? Or maybe because Fiat has an easier learning curve than crypto?

it is true that fiat is easier to retrieve and can disappear immediately if it escapes pursuit and can immediately spend it, but if crypto requires a very complicated process and level of account freezing, KYC is exchanged which can immediately capture data, so fiat is more popular with robbers than crypto