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

[bitzizzix]

Of course, because not all criminals know what crypto is and do not understand and how to use it and criminals only rely on what they can do and there is a chance to get fiat by criminal means or whatever and these criminals are not smart.
And to become a crypto criminal requires intelligence and expertise in the field of technology and mastery of how to use it and is supported by knowledge of crypto and it doesn't take energy to get it or anything and this is a smart criminal.

[3meek]

Criminals choose fiat currencies because it remains the most private currency at the moment! This is the hardest (almost impossible) to track! Fiat is accepted everywhere!
Although cryptovalues are also a good aid, though they are difficult to exchange for fiat (LOL) and it's not accepted everywhere!

Criminals will start using it once they came to know how it works.
For example here French police arrest terror financing ring that used Bitcoin coupons .
The biggest disadvantage of bitcoins is no one knows where's your money gone?.
If every criminal came to know they'll never use fiat for dealing with drugs or legal things.
The future may be worst and bitcoin can be considered as illegal currency

Bitcoin, actually, got its popularity thanks to not quite honest people in this world who used Silk Road!
And still remains the number 1 currency in Darknet... Not Monero, not fiat, just Bitcoin!

[emrecemsan]

I disagree with the opinion on the topic. Professional criminals prefer cryptocurrency to cash. If you look at Deepweb, you will see that many illegal things are made with cryptocurrency. Since the rate of cryptocurrency usage is low in the world, this rate also seems to be low in criminals. However, I think, it is much more than estimated.

[7788bitcoin]

Bitcoin, actually, got its popularity thanks to not quite honest people in this world who used Silk Road!
And still remains the number 1 currency in Darknet... Not Monero, not fiat, just Bitcoin!

This is entirely not true, when WikiLeaks started accepting bitcoin everyone started noticing the new currency and you need to give credit to Laszlo for his 10000 bitcoin for pizza and that made news headline all over the world when the market rallied over $1000 in 2013 and during that period majority of the sites started accepting bitcoin that includes Microsoft.

@OP for criminals they prefer which helps them in making their transaction smooth, cash does not have a money trail and most of them prefer that but it all depends upon the feasibility.

[TopTort777]

Fiat is simply more popular and knows. How long has been cryptocurrency in use? For 10 years approxately? While fiat money has been used for shady deeds for more than 2020 years already. Imho, it is too early to compare these two. Also, it is harder to trace fiat movement than cryptocurrency.

[mezzaluna]

As of late, crypto has become extremely popular due to the negative effects of COVID-19 in the mainstream economy. People are starting to consider crypto to be a safe-haven against the traditional monetary system empowered by banks worldwide. Yet, the vast majority still relies on Fiat for day-to-day transactions because of its price stability and widespread acceptance in the mainstream world.

With the advent of privacy coins, people can enjoy true financial freedom like never before. Privacy coins can become attractive tools for illicit activities because of their untraceable blockchain ledger. Despite all of the benefits privacy coins provide, criminals still rely on Fiat for all of their nefarious actions. I'm starting to wonder why, since Fiat (physical cash) is not as anonymous as one thought it would be. Privacy coins are truly anonymous (especially those that are private by default like Monero and Grin), as there is no central authority behind them. 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?

If by any means criminals start adopting crypto in mass (especially privacy coins), we could expect a full government crackdown on the entire industry. Which is why I think it's best for criminals to continue using Fiat for the sake of the crypto/Blockchain industry's growth worldwide. But we'll never know what will happen in the future. Thoughts?

Its quite nice that criminals are still preferring cash because they still do not have the tools or necessary knowledge to go on large heists within the Cryptocurrency Industry. Even though this industry produces a large amount of money, that money is always used to be converted into cash or be used into different investments.

I think one reason that they cannot use Cryptocurrency is the fact that it can be traced if you only know the basic knowledge. They are traceable and available wallets to cash out Cryptocurrencies requires personal information and that might pass thru a bank.

[hahay]

There are so many criminals in this world and I don't think every criminal is completely knowledgeable about crypto but when the criminals know about crypto, then at least there have been some crimes that demand ransom in bitcoin and I don't think that's entirely with fiat as well as crypto because this is choices and whether they know or not. Criminals who use fiat and crypto are basically the same thing, so in the end criminals have to be punished and any currency will be involved in it.

[atjiat]

Perhaps I will say Not very nice words, but all criminals who keep up with the times and are worried about the security of their activities have long been using cryptocurrency for secure financial transactions that cannot be traced and which allow you to pay for any product, having at least smartphone, not a bag of money. Perhaps such information is not universally available, since the very activity of criminals, which involves the use of cryptocurrencies, is already anonymous and inaccessible to society.

[proTECH77]

Fiat money is so popular to everyone in the world. Very easy to carry and spend without anyone trace where they took the money from. It hard criminals to have access to your crypto because they don't have knowledge about cryptocurrencies and where the money is in the wallet.
I think crypto is not where anyhow person will know where the money is because they only have idea on Fiat cash which is very popular to everyone in the world.

[Fredomago]

Perhaps I will say Not very nice words, but all criminals who keep up with the times and are worried about the security of their activities have long been using cryptocurrency for secure financial transactions that cannot be traced and which allow you to pay for any product, having at least smartphone, not a bag of money. Perhaps such information is not universally available, since the very activity of criminals, which involves the use of cryptocurrencies, is already anonymous and inaccessible to society.

Wise criminals might proceed to that but not all are engaged to crypto most of them still preferred to use fiat as the medium for their illegal did, some might be encouraged to use other channels but majorities still use the old ways.

Fiat money is so popular to everyone in the world. Very easy to carry and spend without anyone trace where they took the money from. It hard criminals to have access to your crypto because they don't have knowledge about cryptocurrencies and where the money is in the wallet.
I think crypto is not where anyhow person will know where the money is because they only have idea on Fiat cash which is very popular to everyone in the world.

Logically right, using fiat you are anonymous. There's no system that will trace you up and you can used it all over the place without any system just a straight forward transactions and you'll enjoy everything.

[South Park]

Maybe criminals prefer Fiat because of its high level of adoption in the mainstream world?

This is the answer to your question, criminals not only use their fiat for the anonymity it brings, if that was the case then privacy coins have fiat beat on that regard, the issue is that they need to spend that money as well and how many people accept those cryptocurrencies? Very few and that will limit what they can do with their money, as such they prefer to use cash for their operations but if at some point the market of cryptocurrencies gets popular enough that you can use it to buy in any store around the world then most likely criminals will begin to use privacy coins instead of cash.

[Genemind]

Criminals will have a hard time cashing out their crypto and since fiat is more convenient since it is accessible and ready to be spent compared to cryptocurrency. One of the major problem when a criminal use crypto is how will they convert it to cash for them to spend. They will have to find a way to cash it out in a bulk, and if you would transfer it to a bank, it will raise questions as to where the funds came from.

[lienfaye]

Criminals will have a hard time cashing out their crypto and since fiat is more convenient since it is accessible and ready to be spent compared to cryptocurrency. One of the major problem when a criminal use crypto is how will they convert it to cash for them to spend. They will have to find a way to cash it out in a bulk, and if you would transfer it to a bank, it will raise questions as to where the funds came from.

Indeed, if they use crypto it is hassle when its time to cash out specially if we are talking about huge money, that wont be easy. If the criminals are not aware to the new technology and not into it, then fiat is the answer for them to get the convenience they wanted. Its easy to escape using fiat.

[ropyu1978]

Using cryptocurrency as their wallet for criminal will hidden their identity and police difficulty to know who is criminal person, we know many time hacker make malware using bitcoin and altcoin as their currency payment because bitcoin and altcoin wallet could not know who use it, many platform support to use bitcoin and altcoin wallet except exchange market and kame many people could not know clearly who is behind the hacker action.

[rodskee]

Criminals will have a hard time cashing out their crypto and since fiat is more convenient since it is accessible and ready to be spent compared to cryptocurrency.

They can use Mixing company to mix the coins and hide their identity so it is possible using crypto.
or maybe they have no deep knowledge about that.

One of the major problem when a criminal use crypto is how will they convert it to cash for them to spend.

Like what i said above there is a way,they can even create a fake KYC because they are capable of everything.

They will have to find a way to cash it out in a bulk, and if you would transfer it to a bank, it will raise questions as to where the funds came from.

Not that hard,criminals are criminals and nothing in this world that they can't do.

[iamsheikhadil]

I think the simple reason they use fiat is they can use it universally, because crypto as of now isn't accepted everywhere, but fiat is used in all corners of the planet.

Criminals will use every technology to do bad things. Think, when there was no internet, there were no cyber crimes. But now that there's internet, there are cyber crimes. Should government then attack whole of internet and ban it just because someone is misusing it?

There are lots of advantages of crypto and the blockchain, so I think even if criminals use the pros of crypto for their ill-intentions, if government understands the uses of blockchain and crypto, it will definitely approach and accept it in a positive way!

[3meek]

Bitcoin, actually, got its popularity thanks to not quite honest people in this world who used Silk Road!
And still remains the number 1 currency in Darknet... Not Monero, not fiat, just Bitcoin!

This is entirely not true, when WikiLeaks started accepting bitcoin everyone started noticing the new currency and you need to give credit to Laszlo for his 10000 bitcoin for pizza and that made news headline all over the world when the market rallied over $1000 in 2013 and during that period majority of the sites started accepting bitcoin that includes Microsoft.

@OP for criminals they prefer which helps them in making their transaction smooth, cash does not have a money trail and most of them prefer that but it all depends upon the feasibility.

I was talking about the popularity of Bitcoin among criminal individuals who sell illegal things on the Internet!
Thanks to pizza, positive changes have taken place in the crypto community! However, the popularity among criminals has increased due to Silk Road!
And to this day in darknet is used bitcoin!

[Dorodha]

The reason criminals use Fiat is because they have no knowledge of crypto and do not know anything about its circulation. Lacking adequate education these people like Fiat currency is in circulation all over the world and in case of hacking or theft Fiat currency can operate everywhere. In the case of crypto this is not possible Fiat is more acceptable than crime on the internet and in banks they have a combined interest in keeping prices stable. Their transparent agreement to keep their trades checked could result in a win-win situation for all concerned.

[Abiky]

Obviously, not all criminals appreciated the convenience of calculating and storing cryptocurrency. In order to pay for a criminal product or service, you no longer need to carry suitcases with Fiat. So I think that in the near future, criminals will use cryptocurrency more.

Most (if not all) criminals aren't quite fond with the latest technologies. Since Fiat can be used offline and no technical knowledge is required to use it, criminals will be more inclined to it. That's not the case with crypto, as you'd need some technical knowledge in order to use it thoroughly for mainstream payments. On top of that, crypto's price volatility and limited scalability scares away the average person in the mainstream world. Criminals want something that's stable in price, easy to use, and widely accepted worldwide. And Fiat is still unbeatable in this regard.

I think that if a stablecoin with privacy features is developed, criminals will become attracted to it. But the stablecoin needs to be decentralized like DAI or governments will be on the issuing company's tail to shut it down. Considering that a privacy-oriented stablecoin is still a dream, we can feel confident that crypto's legitimate use cases will remain in their All-time-highs. This is good, because it'll give the "green light" for the fruitful growth of crypto/Blockchain tech in the mainstream world. Otherwise, governments will be cracking down the industry due to the extensive use of crypto for illicit purposes. In this strange and bizarre world of crypto, anything could happen. Time will tell us what lies ahead with the future of crypto as it becomes more popular in the mainstream world. Just my opinion

[South Park]

I think the simple reason they use fiat is they can use it universally, because crypto as of now isn't accepted everywhere, but fiat is used in all corners of the planet.

Criminals will use every technology to do bad things. Think, when there was no internet, there were no cyber crimes. But now that there's internet, there are cyber crimes. Should government then attack whole of internet and ban it just because someone is misusing it?

There are lots of advantages of crypto and the blockchain, so I think even if criminals use the pros of crypto for their ill-intentions, if government understands the uses of blockchain and crypto, it will definitely approach and accept it in a positive way!

But that is the issue, governments know this but since they see in bitcoin a potential rival that can not only compete with them but even beat their fiat currencies they are attacking cryptocurrencies as a whole instead of concentrating on those that are committing criminal acts, this is slowing down adoption a great deal but eventually as the economies of the world begin to present problems due to excess printing of their fiat currencies people will realize why we need something like bitcoin to exist but even then I am sure the attacks against cryptocurrencies will become even bigger as recent history seems to suggest on the countries in which something similar has happened.