What the NYT and Washington Post Op-Eds Get Wrong About Crypto

First,
and
most
critically,
only
a
small
fraction
of
crypto
is
used
for
illicit
activity,
far
less
than
we
see
in
traditional
finance,
which
according
to
the
United
Nations
could
be
up
to
5%
of
global
GDP.
Per
analytics
firm
Chainalysis,
money
laundering
accounts
for
less
than
0.5%
of
all
crypto
transaction
flows.
This
is
also
decreasing
steadily
over
time.
Even
as
crypto
usage
rose
in
2023,
the
amount
of
money
laundering
in
crypto
fell
from
$31.5
billion
in
2022
to
$22.2
billion
in
2023.
No
significant
amount
of
illicit
activity
is
acceptable,
but
to
single
out
crypto
as
the
villain
is
both
inaccurate
and
tired.