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I don't see how these bitcoin laundering services worked. Since it costs money to use a bitcoin tumbler, it's slow, and there's a non-zero chance that the opera

I don't see how these bitcoin laundering services worked. Since it costs money to use a bitcoin tumbler, it's slow, and there's a non-zero chance that the operator will simply steal your money, there is very little reason to use a coin tumbler unless you're trying to hide the proceeds of crime. In which case, you are just mixing your coins with other criminals, as there's going to be very little 'clean' money going into the mix. So your coins that were 'tainted' by buying weed online are now possibly associated with arms dealing, fraud, child porn or any number of serious crimes. Doesn't seem like a great benefit.

MichaelGG 9y ago
There's a non-zero chance, but if enough people are using a service, it's probably OK. And you can just put a bit through at a time, so you never risk a ton. The fees are 1-3%. It provides privacy. Why should Coinbase be able to see where my money went? As far as clean, if a criminal is cleaning their own money but gets other "dirty" coins, that's fine, since they're not connected to any crimes they committed. Plus, presumably, the other dirty coins will be spread over so many users that it just does not provide a real return on investment for LE to follow.