Not every transaction must have a counter-party that is distinct from the initiator. You could transact with yourself, and some form of that may be also illegal

Not every transaction must have a counter-party that is distinct from the initiator. You could transact with yourself, and some form of that may be also illegal - e.g., wash trading or structuring (I am not saying it's how it should be in ideal world, but currently it is definitely the case). > thus the entire foundation of ethereum would be guilty per your assessment, no? No, why would it be? Again, the Ethereum system did not initiate the specific illegal transactions - it was used (without their specific cooperation or knowledge) to perform the transactions, it's very different.