When was the credit network used to finance terrorism? If we can't prevent terrorism then isn't it an advantage to have them move their funds on a network that can be completely traced and retroactively inspected? We'd prefer if terrorists use cash? Or we believe that if they can't use Amex it's impossible to use cash and therefore terrorism is defeated?

Also, when the startups compete with Visa/Mastercard, they provide that service to small businesses. So really, it's to make it massively more economical and easy for humans to start businesses that take credit.

Gofundme. This was very common early on. People would create campaigns and then it would get funded by stolen credit cards and withdrawn.

> isn't it an advantage to have them move their funds on a network that can be completely traced and retroactively inspected?

Isn't that advantage precisely because of AML/KYC requirements on the networks?

> We'd prefer if terrorists use cash

Yes. It is a million times easier to catch criminals trying to physically launder large volumes of cash than it is to track money flowing through multiple companies (on/off-shore, crypto, different owners, different jurisdictions etc).

Why do you think AML/KYC is such a priority ?

> It is a million times easier to catch criminals trying to physically launder large volumes of cash

Which is odd because all the arrests and cases I see published all catch the money laundering activity because it reached the banking system, not because an alert officer spotted large volumes of physical cash.

> Why do you think AML/KYC is such a priority ?

I honestly don't know. I can't see any evidence which suggested it needed to be made a priority generally. It looks like most of this fraud involves real estate.

To rephrase: we should make it harder for everyone to do stuff because of the tiny minority criminals we want law enforcement to catch (and whose job we need to make easier by way of crime-preempting hacks in every system criminals might use because otherwise it would be too difficult for law enforcement to do their job).

Yes. That's how society works.

If the priority was to make life as easy as possible for everyone then we wouldn't have laws at all.

As if AML/KYC actually prevented anything...