Money laundering, in my opinion, is not only legitimate, but neccessary, given that e.g. European banking transactions end up via SWIFT or implants at the NSA headwuarters.

In addition many governments try to move citizens to "electronic payment" (ranging from online banking to NFC credit cards). The reason is once again tracking, and as could be seen during the financial crisis it's easy to just confiscate money when it's just numbers in a mainframe vs actual piles of cash in my home safe.