If someone could buy a prepaid debit card for cash without showing ID, and add money to it without showing ID, and spend from it without showing ID, then Alice

If someone could buy a prepaid debit card for cash without showing ID, and add money to it without showing ID, and spend from it without showing ID, then Alice could buy a card, Bob could load $5000 onto it, and Carol could read the card number over the phone to David. To achieve the same kind of anonymity today, someone would have to accumulate $5000 in cash and put it in David’s physical possession.