Bitcoin is money, and money has always been used for both legal and illegal purposes. Cash, credit cards, and the current banking system are far more vulnerable to financial crime than Bitcoin. Bitcoin could bring about a major revolution in the payment system, and the benefits of these revolutions are thought to far outweigh the potential drawbacks.
Bitcoin’s design is a huge step forward in the security of money and an important protection against many forms of financial crime. For example, Bitcoin is completely impossible to counterfeit. Users have full control over their payment transactions and cannot receive unverified charges like credit card fraud. Bitcoin transactions are irreversible, eliminating fraudulent chargebacks. Bitcoin protects funds from theft and loss through very powerful and useful mechanisms such as backups, encryption, and multi-signatures.
Some people worry that Bitcoin may be more attractive to criminals because it can be used to make private and irreversible payments. However, these features already exist in well-established and widely used cash and wire transfers. The use of Bitcoin will undoubtedly be subject to similar regulations that already operate within the existing financial system, and it is unlikely to hinder criminal investigations. Generally speaking, it is common for some important breakthroughs to be controversial before they become well known. The Internet is a good example of this.
