Every form of currency will have benefits and drawbacks, and some people will use it for illicit activities. I think the pros outweigh the cons in the case of BTC. Can't say the same for fiat currencies though.
The discussion has derailed.
The question was not "is bitcoin better than dollars", it was "will the FBI auction convince the banks that bitcoin is legitimate, so that they stop closing accounts of bitcoin ventures".
My answer was "no, because bitcoin's
stated goals include (1) to take away a significant slice of their revenue, and (2) to bypass all the controls on money flow that governments have set up to prevent crime, and they don't want to be charged with helping people bypass those controls."