> Criminal economic ecosystems have existed since long before cryptocurrency, as has AML law even in mere regional financial hubs like South Africa.
Even if South Africa shut them down, I'm sure others will find a way to run such payment processors. Where there's money, there's motive.
> The real question is to what extent is it beneficial for non-criminal businesses to invest in the capability to handle niche currencies like Monero used by hardly anybody and attractive primarily to money launders.
People who launder large sums of money would likely do it through the traditional financial system. How does one launder, say, a billion dollars through a Monero today? I don't think they could. That type of money is being laundered through the banking system[0].
> The real question is to what extent is it beneficial for non-criminal businesses to invest in the capability to handle niche currencies like Monero
If it's easy to implement & their niche likes to use them, then I would say it's probable.
Crypto can win bit by bit. Country by country. There are some jurisdictions that seem to be embracing the tech (like Japan & Switzerland).
That's some people using it. If it continues to grow & you know it's going to grow faster than any other asset it makes sense to do some speculation. Then with that speculation, you start to learn about crypto. It starts to spread as people become aware of returns, & it continues to grow, & so on.
It's resilient. I like resilient assets. I think a little bit of crypto can be a good investment. If anything it's fun. That's one of the reasons I think young people like it.
Do it for fun, spend it when people accept it. People even give discounts for buying in crypto.
[0] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hsbc-probe/hsbc-to-pay-1-...
