A criminal use is still a use. Some percent of gun sales are for criminal purposes. This counts as market demand just the same as any other sale. Precisely measuring how valuable this is to criminal enterprise is an interesting question.

My main area of skepticism regarding this proposed use case is that a blockchain is an immutable public ledger, and thus with enough sleuthing, it is probably quite traceable. Indeed many criminals have later been apprehended through monitoring bitcoin transactions.

If it is a non criminal situation, you can generally use traditional methods to establish trust, such as using courts to sue people who rip you off, or using escrow agents, etc.

The world has had thousands of years to come up with solutions to trust problems during transactions. They are solutions that work. They work for criminals too, but its a lot harder to use them, especially over the internet, because everyone providing the services goes to jail if they are transacting with criminals.

> such as using courts to sue people who rip you off,

Unless the whole transaction is anonymous, you can do the same with bitcoin.

> or using escrow agents

Which costs you extra.

Not making a value judgement, just pointing things out.

> you can do the same with bitcoin.

Yes of course - but the question was what value does bitcoin add over normal money, not /name things you cannot do with bitcoin/.

In Belarus, it is criminal to donate to the opposition party or to the wounded protesters.

A fucked society is not fixed with bitcoin