“In 2020, the criminal share of all cryptocurrency activity [was] just 0.34%, or $10.0 billion in transaction volume.” This finding by crypto intelligence firm Chainalysis may surprise the casual reader accustomed to dire crypto warnings from government apparatchiks and blaring headlines about crypto scams and ransomware. Yet in this supposed age of “disinformation,” it fits that the opposite is true. Far from providing a pathway for clandestine transfers outside of government’s view, the bigger crypto concern is that its inherent transparency may need more privacy protections.

The “bad-things-happen-on-blockchains” meme has lots of boosters. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) stated at recent hearing “Cryptocurrencies, if they succeed, will have appeal to only two groups, narco-terrorists and tax evaders.” The Treasury Department has issued similar complaints.

Ezra Klein, an opinion columnist at the New York Times, is…

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