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

[Mauser]

Cash is truly the most anonymous money in the world.

However, there is a trend towards restricting the use of cash around the world (especially in the Scandinavian countries).  

Cash is very difficult to control.  You can, of course, rewrite the numbers and series of banknotes ... This can be effective if the money is known to be stolen ...

Regulators are trying to ban cash altogether.  Most likely, they will succeed.  

In my country, stores do not accept cash due to Covid-19.  I can only pay for purchases with a credit card.

The new digital cash of the 21st century is Monero (XMR).  I think that cash will not disappear in the 21st century.  21st Century Cash = Monero.

Criminals are trying to hold on to cash as long as possible because it's so anonymous. But government and central banks are fighting them more and more. Large denominated bills are being taken out of circulation, making transfering large amounts of cash more difficult because now weight and size increases a lot. I think criminals are adjusting to these trends and try to go digital themselfs. Many crimes these days are done via the internet, so why not store your stolen money in crpytos? Would make perfect sense to me.

[Rodeo02]

Maybe they don't know how to use crypto and it's difficult for them to cash out and convert into fiat money because they will catch by the authority. But once criminals knows how to use crypto, I am sure they will use it than fiat because it was decentralized and they can make transaction online, fast and hassle free.

The main reason is there are more market in Fiat currency so they still using that for many scheme .


It's not difficult to convert it into Fiat the only problem is if you want to widraw large amount using crypto currency there are government will watch your money and look at you because they think that this can be use for money laundering , but if you will convert the money slowly then there is no way they will be interested to track your transaction in crypto currency.

[noorman0]

Which criminals? I don't know the statistics to know about the currency criminals use. And I think it depends on how many criminals according to their field. And the current fact, there are more cases of real world crime than cybercrime cases. It is also determined by environmental factors, criminals do not have to keep the proceeds of crime without spending it.

[deisik]

Large denominated bills are being taken out of circulation, making transfering large amounts of cash more difficult because now weight and size increases a lot

I don't think it's going to work out as planned (if it is planned that way)

And I don't think either that top-brass criminals are going digital even under the circumstances described. Indeed, there is a lot of criminal activity happening on the Internet right now, but this type of activity is closely related or based on the Internet and the possibilities it provides

However, criminal activities that don't require the Internet are unlikely to get it used widely because there is a higher risk of exposure. But this is the last thing crime bosses would want. More likely, they will start using gold, diamonds, or anything physical in lieu of cash if it becomes unavailable one day

[tbterryboy]

Which criminals? I don't know the statistics to know about the currency criminals use. And I think it depends on how many criminals according to their field. And the current fact, there are more cases of real world crime than cybercrime cases. It is also determined by environmental factors, criminals do not have to keep the proceeds of crime without spending it.

There are actually two basic factors which makes criminals demand cash instead of online payments and crypto payments.

1- Inability to liquidate the funds: Suppose they ask for bitcoins but while cashing the bitcoins they can be traced down, because a criminal doesn't have the brain or education to know how to avoid being tracked and if even there is no way to track them they are not aware of that and they simply demand cash so they can use it directly.

2- Based on the victim: The person they ask money from might not be knowledgeable about how to buy bitcoins so they rather make it easy by demanding cash.

[deisik]

Suppose they ask for bitcoins but while cashing the bitcoins they can be traced down, because a criminal doesn't have the brain or education to know how to avoid being tracked

Those who don't know how to avoid being hunted down get caught up

So it is natural selection at its best, with all ensuing results. Further, by lacking the brain or education you obviously refer to small-time street criminals like pickpockets and their likes. But seriously, how do you think organized crime exists in the first place if they are effectively braindead, according to you? There's something inconsistent in your line of reasoning, don't you think? The most successful criminal is the one who has never been caught, a mastermind, in a sense. And we can't know how many of them are out there, at large

[fullhdpixel]

Maybe they don't know how to use crypto and it's difficult for them to cash out and convert into fiat money because they will catch by the authority. But once criminals knows how to use crypto, I am sure they will use it than fiat because it was decentralized and they can make transaction online, fast and hassle free.

Actually cyber criminals always prefer Bitcoins and almost all the ransomware attacks on big companies demand Bitcoins in return. Sometimes this makes it feel like Bitcoins is a currency made for the sole purpose of hacking and ransom but this is a really bad perception and image being created by hackers for Bitcoins.

The reason why actually cyber hackers ask for Bitcoins is because of the decentralized nature and the value of Bitcoins. Hackers know they cannot ask for PayPal from their victims and there is absolutely no way to demand cash or something like that because they will be caught so they demand payment in crypto because they know they can mix coins and even void being traced through BTC addresses.

[OasisDre]

You need to ask yourself why hackers demand crypto when they carried out successful hacks on their victims? Criminals have different levels of smartness and understandings, each of they choose what's best for them, though it's hard to stay off the radar online without been traced successfully but it's still damn possible

[Ridcan]

I also share the same opinion with you.  By criminals, use of Fiat is seen as safer than using crypto.  Let's let them stay like this.  If the use of crypto is more common in the criminal industry, it means huge international pressures for us.  Let's continue to use cryptocurrency as an investment tool.

[erikoy]

It depend on the criminals actually and If I will be the criminal then I will prefer to use cryptocurrency for protection from getting identity. There are exchanges that are actually not mindin for KYC and this is the ideal when using bitcoin. I think mostly of us here hate KYC and that is why there are secured wallets not asking for your identity for you to remain as anonymous.

However, cryptocurrency is not yet fully and most of the criminals do not know about this so this could be the reason why criminals use the traditional method use of fiat currency.

[redsun114]

Most criminals are not educated as criminals are choosing cash fiat at the top of crypto they like Fiat because they have no idea about crypto

I tend to disagree with this view

Indeed, the top dogs among criminals may have little knowledge about cryptocurrencies and how they work, but they have accomplices and sidekicks that are pretty well versed in virtually anything, from finance to chemistry. Otherwise, drug cartels simply wouldn't exist. So rest assured, if criminals are not using crypto, it is not for the lack of knowledge or anything to that tune. Cash (fiat) is just better as far as large-scale criminal operations are concerned

I agree a little bit here with you because the criminal activities are now moving towards better standards and now kidnapping and such are even done with proper planning like they are well educated of what they are doing and planning it.

The reason I think they do not ask for BTC is because they need cash to pay their team and it would not make sense to ask for BTC and then sell them and distribute so why not directly ask cash. It is more like why criminals do not ask for Gold that is because they are not going to wear jewelry instead their aim is to get cash. I mean you cannot expect a criminal to hodl BTC right? They need money and they need cash so they demand that directly instead of asking for BTC/GOLD and then sell it creating another process.

[slapper]

Which criminals? I don't know the statistics to know about the currency criminals use. And I think it depends on how many criminals according to their field. And the current fact, there are more cases of real world crime than cybercrime cases. It is also determined by environmental factors, criminals do not have to keep the proceeds of crime without spending it.

There are actually two basic factors which makes criminals demand cash instead of online payments and crypto payments.

1- Inability to liquidate the funds: Suppose they ask for bitcoins but while cashing the bitcoins they can be traced down, because a criminal doesn't have the brain or education to know how to avoid being tracked and if even there is no way to track them they are not aware of that and they simply demand cash so they can use it directly.

2- Based on the victim: The person they ask money from might not be knowledgeable about how to buy bitcoins so they rather make it easy by demanding cash.

1. I disapprove that all criminal does not have an education. Many of them are good enough to steal your money without letting you know. Consider many ICOs in 2017. Who is sillier? investors or those criminal founders exit without investors' money? The number of people using cash is more than the number of people using cryptocurrency. But if you meet a cybercriminal, you might be stunning by what they can do

2. Agree. More people use cash, more criminal steals cash. But fiat criminal is never the same as cybercriminals.

[Darkelf11]

It depend on the criminals actually and If I will be the criminal then I will prefer to use cryptocurrency for protection from getting identity. There are exchanges that are actually not mindin for KYC and this is the ideal when using bitcoin. I think mostly of us here hate KYC and that is why there are secured wallets not asking for your identity for you to remain as anonymous.

However, cryptocurrency is not yet fully and most of the criminals do not know about this so this could be the reason why criminals use the traditional method use of fiat currency.

Cannot agree with this, criminals are always updated on any technology that could help them to do their illegal activities. Bitcoin has been here for how many years, most of them jump from one to another technology that they could use to steal money from their prey. Criminals also uses fiat currencies because it's value is fixed, and is much easier to understand. But we have what do we called money laundering, where I think, bitcoin is much susceptible with.

[deisik]

The reason I think they do not ask for BTC is because they need cash to pay their team and it would not make sense to ask for BTC and then sell them and distribute so why not directly ask cash. It is more like why criminals do not ask for Gold that is because they are not going to wear jewelry instead their aim is to get cash

Bitcoin can be easily traced

On the other hand, more anonymous cryptocurrencies like Monero or Zcash simply lack the required volume to make them really useful for large-scale criminal operations, even though they are indeed used on the Internet for a lot of minor illegal activities. Gold is good as a store of value, but low-profile criminals are spenders, not savers. Therefore, cash is the best payment option in these circumstances and will most certainly remain that in the foreseeable future

[Josefjix]

I also share the same opinion with you.  By criminals, use of Fiat is seen as safer than using crypto.  Let's let them stay like this.  If the use of crypto is more common in the criminal industry, it means huge international pressures for us.  Let's continue to use cryptocurrency as an investment tool.

There are scams happening in the Crypto sector as well, there is no industry directly related to finance that's scam free  the whole picture  to try and tame here is trying to liaise with centralised exchanges to bring the culprits to book. Criminals would prefer fiat to cryptocurrencies because they wouldn't be safe transacting a large sum of coins that has traces and all eyes would be on them.

[Argoo]

I do not know why someone made such a conclusion, but if this is so, then it should be borne in mind that cash is almost impossible to track if you do not mark it in advance or rewrite the banknote numbers.  Cryptocurrency is tracked if desired, with the exception of cryptocurrency with a high degree of anonymity.

[bittick]

Simple, cash is the true untracable means of payment method meanwhile with blockchain you got your transaction recorded for eternity and could possibly be traced after few years goes. There's reason why those so called hackers have a hard time cashing out their money because everyone literally taking a look and watch their address movement and once they made a mistake the money could be gained back by exchange or swap platform.
Cash on the other hand, so hard to trace it has become number #1 method for those illegals activities or criminals in making a deal.

[bryant.coleman]

There are actually two basic factors which makes criminals demand cash instead of online payments and crypto payments.

1- Inability to liquidate the funds: Suppose they ask for bitcoins but while cashing the bitcoins they can be traced down, because a criminal doesn't have the brain or education to know how to avoid being tracked and if even there is no way to track them they are not aware of that and they simply demand cash so they can use it directly.

2- Based on the victim: The person they ask money from might not be knowledgeable about how to buy bitcoins so they rather make it easy by demanding cash.

Although I would agree with your observations partially, I have to say that the situation is changing. Bitcoin liquidity is getting better with every passing month, and unless you are dealing with a huge stash of coins (tens of thousands or more), then it is possible for you to liquidate them within a few weeks without attracting unwanted attention from the law enforcement authorities.

[New_order]

Actually now a days I do believe that most of the people know about bitcoins , therefore if a person is planning something illegal he would certainly think about all the ways he can get it done perfectly.

Unfortunately fiat is most likely the biggest reason of corruption , the untraceable nature of the fiat makes it all together super easy to be smuggle , even mixing up fiat is quite easy.

The banks can store the data of all the cash with them but unfortunately they cannot individually track it if someone decides to spread it into a densely populated region..

But when it comes to cryptocurrencies.
They are good , they are private , they provide freedom to people BUT with regards to the KYC which is now mandatory for all the wallets , now you can very easily get tracked if you decide to commit some crime with bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. There are mixing services but at the end of the day it can all be tracked.

good point bro, its just that not all crytpo users are that smart either, few hackers have been apprehended after the successfully hacked a exchange or platform, not all crypto users understand what mixers are, not all crypto users understand the difference between monero and bitcoin, now that crypto address can be easily blacklisted its harder to stay off the radar in crytpo space.

[New_order]

Maybe they don't know how to use crypto and it's difficult for them to cash out and convert into fiat money because they will catch by the authority. But once criminals knows how to use crypto, I am sure they will use it than fiat because it was decentralized and they can make transaction online, fast and hassle free.

I dont know why hackers hack exchanges this days because the money will be useless to them on the long run, for them to swap the stolen coins to fiat they will still need some kind of verifications on the platform, KYC and ID verifications so they can easily get caught in the process, once you hacked a exchange and move fund to a particular address you have been tagged already, the hunt is on.