It wouldn't affect as many businesses as you think. My bank (a large bank which is partly state-owned since the financial crisis) would refuse me banking service immediately if I accepted payments in cryptocurrency, and it is not the only bank to do so. (Not that it remotely bothers me that this is the case.)
Laws don't stop criminals at all, but we still have them and we still try to enforce them.
> They will continue to use privacy coins such as Monero
In the end you need an off-ramp where you convert Monero into actual currency and that's where you get fucked.
Frankly speaking, the $5 wrench XKCD comes to mind. There is no conspiracy here, except that we want to keep society functional and not be disrupted by tools that mostly cater to criminals.
You don't need anonymity to have privacy.
Before you downvote, really think about this for a moment. Because you'll realise that almost none of your payments are anonymous, unless you pay cash (while being recorded).
"True" privacy requires anonymity and the fact that existing systems have been terrible on that end isn't much justification for banning systems that do have proper privacy.
» GNU Taler is an open protocol for an electronic payment system with a free software reference implementation. GNU Taler offers secure, fast and easy payment processing using well understood cryptographic techniques. GNU Taler allows customers to remain anonymous, while ensuring that merchants can be held accountable by governments. Hence, GNU Taler is compatible with anti-money-laundering (AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) regulation, as well as data protection regulation (such as GDPR).
> Criticism comes from the Pirate Party. “A complete ban on anonymous payments would not have any appreciable reducing effects on crime, but it would deprive innocent citizens of their financial freedom. For example, to collect donations, opposition figures like Alexej Navalny are increasingly dependent on anonymous donations in virtual currencies around the world,” says Patrick Breyer, MEP for the Pirate Party Germany and member of the LIBE committee.
The critique is 100% on the money. This will not stop criminals, at all. They will continue to use privacy coins such as Monero which are entirely untraceable by design. The only people hit by this are legitimate business or causes who offer crypto payments, or grey area businesses such as cannabis shops. The timing coinciding with the Emergency Act in Canada, feels like this is likely about suppression of undesirable political groups.