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

[Spaffin]

Criminals can use for their activities Not only cryptocurrencies, but also any values that can be used as a means of payment. At least governments today are looking for at least some reason to harm users of cryptocurrency and prohibit cryptocurrency, but I believe they will have to put up with the global trend, since not only ordinary people, but also big business are more and more interested in cryptocurrencies ...

[Janation]

Criminals can use for their activities Not only cryptocurrencies, but also any values that can be used as a means of payment. At least governments today are looking for at least some reason to harm users of cryptocurrency and prohibit cryptocurrency, but I believe they will have to put up with the global trend, since not only ordinary people, but also big business are more and more interested in cryptocurrencies ...

These "big businesses" aim to invest their money in cryptocurrencies.

Not if you are talking about those huge underground groups that are operating illegally or selling illegal things like drugs. As far as I know, all of these new businesses having an interest in cryptocurrencies are those that wanted to invest their money in crypto mainly Bitcoin. Hope the government would not "harm" these new users.

[worldofcoins]

Fiat money is easy to get and more reliable to accessible. You can easily steal fiat than cryptocurrencies.
Blockchain innovation makes their security more intense to break and criminals would prefer not to waste their time by hacking it.
But if the criminals are smart like a scammer ( who may consider as a criminal ) it can easily misdirect people and stealing their coins.

[geegaw]

Fiat money is easy to get and more reliable to accessible. You can easily steal fiat than cryptocurrencies.
Blockchain innovation makes their security more intense to break and criminals would prefer not to waste their time by hacking it.
But if the criminals are smart like a scammer ( who may consider as a criminal ) it can easily misdirect people and stealing their coins.

Indeed, when we talk about criminals attacking banks or robbing money, even trading illegal items, they often do not trust each other between transactions and they always prefer the speed of transactions, cash is always more stimulating, not too many criminals like to waste minutes or even hours getting a transaction confirmation, more than enough time for the police to arrest them. But maybe in the future, criminals may be smarter, apply crypto to optimize anonymity, the government will be more difficult to find but there is no doubt that crypto regulation will become more closed

[Mauser]

Fiat money is easy to get and more reliable to accessible. You can easily steal fiat than cryptocurrencies.
Blockchain innovation makes their security more intense to break and criminals would prefer not to waste their time by hacking it.
But if the criminals are smart like a scammer ( who may consider as a criminal ) it can easily misdirect people and stealing their coins.

This might be true in the last few years. But now with Bitcoins being above 50,000 USD it becomes very rewarding to steal just one 1 BTC. I think the risk/reward is what drives criminals into the crypto market. If you get more money for your work then it becomes more attractive to go for coins at the moment. I would expect for criminals to try and convert any stolen coins to FIAT currency very quickly and just store their wealth in cash somewhere easily accessible.

[Abiky]

Except monero or any privacy coins out there which even the US government is trying to find anyone who can crack the blockchain and gives out some reward.
Though it's true that paper money is really easy to launder, I mean there's reason why those drug dealers always try to use the USD when they make transactions it's because using this money is easy to buy anything and to launder. Crypto in the other hand, need to go through KYC process when trying to liquidate it, definitely not a convenient way for criminals.

KYC is only necessary when using centralized exchanges to get access to crypto. Smart criminals would simply use a decentralized exchange or perform in-person trades in order to avoid verifying their identities. If that's not enough, criminals could purchase a privacy coin like Monero using physical cash (paper money). Yet, the average criminal is not tech-savvy enough to do this. It's the reason why most criminals haven't changed physical cash for crypto, despite its ever-rising popularity in the mainstream world. After all, it's much easier to use paper money than crypto itself.

Nonetheless, it's best for criminals to stay away from crypto as much as possible. Otherwise, governments will begin cracking down on the industry like there's no tomorrow. If we want crypto/Blockchain tech to succeed, illegal transactions need to be reduced to a minimum. That would allow crypto/Blockchain tech to flourish in the mainstream world. Fortunately, Bitcoin's (and some other cryptocurrencies') transparency allows law enforcement to track criminals with ease. The real issue would be dealing with privacy coins. They may be declared as "illegal" due to governments' inability to track and trace transactions on them. I wouldn't worry about this as long as most cryptocurrencies are approved by mainstream governments worldwide. Just my opinion

[tygeade]

KYC is only necessary when using centralized exchanges to get access to crypto. Smart criminals would simply use a decentralized exchange or perform in-person trades in order to avoid verifying their identities.

Yes they can use decentralized exchanges but it would only mean that they changed their bitcoins into some other coins, at some point of time they have to sell the bitcoins and that is where the biggest risk for criminals exist as it might reveal their identity. Yes, some people might help them out with in-person trades but the sum of money being large will always bring a doubt in their mind.

If that's not enough, criminals could purchase a privacy coin like Monero using physical cash (paper money). Yet, the average criminal is not tech-savvy enough to do this.

That is another reason, I fully agree because although we know how easy it is to keep everything anonymous, not necessarily the criminals know that and if they knew about it, they would be doing a job .

It's the reason why most criminals haven't changed physical cash for crypto, despite its ever-rising popularity in the mainstream world. After all, it's much easier to use paper money than crypto itself.

Yes exactly and usually criminals are a group of people and cash makes it easy to distribute among them all, imagine each of the criminal paying transaction fees and having their own address. It makes me feel laughing just thinking about it.

it's best for criminals to stay away from crypto as much as possible. Otherwise, governments will begin cracking down on the industry like there's no tomorrow.

Almost all the ransomwares now days are demanding bitcoins only which shows that educated thieves have actually adopted Bitcoins and this is another reason why governments are banning crypto but the one who gets hacked will arrange bitcoins somehow.

[Argoo]

It's a very interesting discussion for me. Why do criminals prefer fiat money of course because fiat money still dominates higher adoption and of course they still find it easier to use fiat currency than crypto.
In addition cryptocurrencies have unstable value, perhaps that is also the problem for them.
With the implementation of KYC security system and fingerprint of course this is also the fear of criminals.

There are hardly any statistics on this topic. Most likely, this is just an assumption that criminals use cash more than cryptocurrency. Although it would be logical. After all, not all criminals are well versed in the world of cryptocurrency to risk their freedom with it. And cash is simpler and more reliable, and besides, it is almost impossible to trace it. Therefore, we should not give up cash.

[Ucy]

It's a very interesting discussion for me. Why do criminals prefer fiat money of course because fiat money still dominates higher adoption and of course they still find it easier to use fiat currency than crypto.
In addition cryptocurrencies have unstable value, perhaps that is also the problem for them.
With the implementation of KYC security system and fingerprint of course this is also the fear of criminals.

There are hardly any statistics on this topic. Most likely, this is just an assumption that criminals use cash more than cryptocurrency. Although it would be logical. After all, not all criminals are well versed in the world of cryptocurrency to risk their freedom with it. And cash is simpler and more reliable, and besides, it is almost impossible to trace it. Therefore, we should not give up cash.

It's quite easy for regular people & others to commit crimes with physical currencies compared to virtual currencies like Bitcoin or digital fiats.     Bitcoin makes it easy to catch criminals due to its transparency and immutablity. The activities on the network is visible to the public compared to fiat which is more like a dark money.

If you shine light on crimes committed using physical currencies, it will probably humble alots of people.

[worldofcoins]

It's a very interesting discussion for me. Why do criminals prefer fiat money of course because fiat money still dominates higher adoption and of course they still find it easier to use fiat currency than crypto.
In addition cryptocurrencies have unstable value, perhaps that is also the problem for them.
With the implementation of KYC security system and fingerprint of course this is also the fear of criminals.

There are hardly any statistics on this topic. Most likely, this is just an assumption that criminals use cash more than cryptocurrency. Although it would be logical. After all, not all criminals are well versed in the world of cryptocurrency to risk their freedom with it. And cash is simpler and more reliable, and besides, it is almost impossible to trace it. Therefore, we should not give up cash.

And if those criminals are using Crypto then smarter ones from them are using Mixing services to make turn their money white.
I used to think Monero is transparent until recently someone started exposing the porn habits of people and their IP addresses made me question its anonymity.

[Dragonfund]

Criminals can use for their activities Not only cryptocurrencies, but also any values that can be used as a means of payment. At least governments today are looking for at least some reason to harm users of cryptocurrency and prohibit cryptocurrency, but I believe they will have to put up with the global trend, since not only ordinary people, but also big business are more and more interested in cryptocurrencies ...

You have said nothing but the pure truth. This is nothing of criminal but also terrorism. If we analyze criminalities and the rate how fiat is been lundered with drugs and illicitly transactions, you will be awe in shock how fiat has done bad than cryptocurrency but you know governments will always be what they are and would say the other way. Since crypto is known for global adoption, it easily make trend when an illegal activity is done which is easily spread across countries.

[Ucy]

It's a very interesting discussion for me. Why do criminals prefer fiat money of course because fiat money still dominates higher adoption and of course they still find it easier to use fiat currency than crypto.
In addition cryptocurrencies have unstable value, perhaps that is also the problem for them.
With the implementation of KYC security system and fingerprint of course this is also the fear of criminals.

There are hardly any statistics on this topic. Most likely, this is just an assumption that criminals use cash more than cryptocurrency. Although it would be logical. After all, not all criminals are well versed in the world of cryptocurrency to risk their freedom with it. And cash is simpler and more reliable, and besides, it is almost impossible to trace it. Therefore, we should not give up cash.

And if those criminals are using Crypto then smarter ones from them are using Mixing services to make turn their money white.
I used to think Monero is transparent until recently someone started exposing the porn habits of people and their IP addresses made me question its anonymity.

I guess you mean "I used think Monero is anonymous". I think transactions on transparent Blockchain would be visible to the public, like Bitcoin and other transparent Blockchains are.
I  believe transactions by crypto users, including anonymous users, should be transparent... You are only protecting the user's privacy , which is actually a right. Transparency is part of the reasons I prefer Bitcoin and other true cryptocurrencies.

[Kittygalore]

Fiat money is easy to get and more reliable to accessible. You can easily steal fiat than cryptocurrencies.

You are somewhat right but I think that the reason that fiat is the preference of criminals is because they have an already established way of cleaning the money and they don't know how cryptocurrency works so they might have a problem because of Internet trail that they might leave behind.

[Abiky]

There are hardly any statistics on this topic. Most likely, this is just an assumption that criminals use cash more than cryptocurrency. Although it would be logical. After all, not all criminals are well versed in the world of cryptocurrency to risk their freedom with it. And cash is simpler and more reliable, and besides, it is almost impossible to trace it. Therefore, we should not give up cash.

Cash is virtually untraceable, while most cryptocurrencies are not. It makes sense to use paper money for illicit activities than crypto itself. Privacy coins could serve as an alternative to Fiat, but they're often complicated to understand. The average criminal is not tech-savvy enough to be able to get ahold of crypto for their own benefit. As such, paper money (Fiat) will continue to be the #1 currency of choice for these malicious actors. At least, crypto/Blockchain land will come out cleaner than Fiat as illegal transactions are reduced to a minimum. Transparent cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum will ensure the bad guys will stay out of the system for good. Authorities can easily track and trace criminal activities on these popular blockchain networks.

Nonetheless, there's still the possibility of criminals adopting crypto on top of Fiat sometime in the future. I believe that once CBDCs are launched, criminals will do the switch to decentralized cryptocurrencies. After all, privacy will be non-existent on digital currencies issued by central banks themselves. Governments will be able to easily surveil the system underpinning CBDCs, as everything becomes visible on a digital ledger controlled by central banks. It'll be something similar to credit/debit cards but worse. At that point in time, privacy coins like Monero and Grin could be outlawed by mainstream governments as they become heavily used by criminals worldwide. Bitcoin and other transparent cryptocurrencies will survive in the long run as it's easy to trace malicious actors on-chain. As long as Bitcoin gets the "green light" from mainstream governments, nothing else matters. Just my thoughts

[worldofcoins]

Fiat money is easy to get and more reliable to accessible. You can easily steal fiat than cryptocurrencies.

You are somewhat right but I think that the reason that fiat is the preference of criminals is because they have an already established way of cleaning the money and they don't know how cryptocurrency works so they might have a problem because of Internet trail that they might leave behind.

Criminals don't have an opportunity to trade crypto with their fiat.
For what reason would they picked the crypto when they can take the cash without burning through their time.
They never do online exchanges they generally met someplace and exchange weapons and drugs.
You can not buy or exchange drugs, weapons, and illegal things online so they prefer money more than fiat.
There's another likelihood that these crooks don't know about bitcoin or blockchain innovation the less information on bitcoin constrains them to utilize fiat than some other crypto.

[BITCOIN4X]

~Snip
There's another likelihood that these crooks don't know about bitcoin or blockchain innovation the less information on bitcoin constrains them to utilize fiat than some other crypto.

This should be a weak opinion for today's digital age. Behind the scenes criminals also have high IT knowledge which makes them untraceable for years even they have a high educational background before being recruited as members. If you think their technological knowledge is very limited then I think it will end in a weak opinion. Illegal trade is carried out online and has been done regularly for a long time so that their activities in the black market are more likely to be successful because they are equipped with good knowledge. It is possible that bitcoin and other privacy altcoin are also used as a means of payment.

[xSkylarx]

Fiat money is easy to get and more reliable to accessible. You can easily steal fiat than cryptocurrencies.

You are somewhat right but I think that the reason that fiat is the preference of criminals is because they have an already established way of cleaning the money and they don't know how cryptocurrency works so they might have a problem because of Internet trail that they might leave behind.

Well there 2 types of criminal activities  online and in live one which in online is they used bitcoin or crypto as a payment since it is easy than fiat but in other type they used the physical one which it is easy but criminals now are really careful they are using the internet and crypto to not be easily detected

[Abiky]

Criminals don't have an opportunity to trade crypto with their fiat.
For what reason would they picked the crypto when they can take the cash without burning through their time.
They never do online exchanges they generally met someplace and exchange weapons and drugs.
You can not buy or exchange drugs, weapons, and illegal things online so they prefer money more than fiat.
There's another likelihood that these crooks don't know about bitcoin or blockchain innovation the less information on bitcoin constrains them to utilize fiat than some other crypto.

Exactly. There are many limitations when it comes to using crypto for illegal activities than it's the case with Fiat. You need to have some sort of technical knowledge to be able to use crypto properly. With Fiat, that's another story. You can use Fiat in an offline manner, and even pay for goods and services everywhere due to widespread merchant acceptance. Not only that, but Fiat is stable whereas crypto is not.

If someday criminals decide to use crypto, I think they'll resort to privacy coins like Monero and Zcash. After all, transactions are obfuscated from prying eyes (not like transparent cryptos where everything is visible on a public blockchain ledger (eg: Bitcoin, and Ethereum)). Crypto surveillance techniques are getting more sophisticated each day, so it'll be hard to preserve anonymity if you're not very knowledgeable about crypto/Blockchain tech. I'd prefer criminals to stay away from crypto as much as possible, so the industry would flourish without any obstacles (eg: government crackdowns) whatsoever. Just my opinion

[Nathrixxx]

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?

Fraudulency is obviously observed in both fiat and Cryptocurrency, the main idea is that in fiat there are many loopholes to penetrate various elements of scam and theft such as physical or forceful acquisition in form of armed robbery, attacks on banks, pick pockets, careless in handling money, dubiousness, falsification, fake and pretendance for quality, among others.

while Cryptocurrency only has the highest victim of such to be on newbies, who don't have the full knowledge on how to identify criminality elements in disguise for promotions, free gifting of crypto, fake bounties, among others, and one can also be careless in revealing the logging credentials to wallets to the criminals.

Another interesting point is that fiat criminality can be operated by learnerd and uneducated personalities but Cryptocurrency need an expert already into crypto, skilled and equipped with digital informations, steady internet, smartness and skillful on information and technology system.

If you are scammed in crypto its as a result of your unscrupulous alertness and lack of technical know how, which the blame should be attributed to you. In a nutshell it is easier to operate fiat criminality than in crypto

[Rufsilf]

Criminals always prefer fiat money since then, it is because if they were to make a heist in a group then fiat money easy and best way to divide it according to the plan and also it is untraceable. Even if it comes directly from the bank, the government can't track all those cash (fiat) that have scattered remotely.

While if they plan to attack on crypto, the chances of making it successful is too small and it's not worth of their time. Most of the criminals are in need of instant cash and not in the form of cryptos because if they were to exchange it in cash then they'll be having a hard time to cover their tracks.