The main advantage is avoiding the traditional financial systems, as you note. One use of that is to launder money, as you note. Other uses include paying for

The main advantage is avoiding the traditional financial systems, as you note. One use of that is to launder money, as you note. Other uses include paying for illegal things (drugs, child pornography, or in some countries run of the mill goods that are banned), or as a parking spot for money when your other options are even worse. I.e. there probably isn't a worse spot to put your money than in Venezuela's currency; despite Bitcoin's instability, it's unlikely to deflate faster than Venezuelan currency. You can also use it to move currency around. I've heard that wealthy Chinese people use it as a vehicle to get money out of China, but I'm not terribly well-versed in that.