Isn't the blockchain a record of everything you do from here until eternity? I understand your wallet might not be connected to you but that's only going to last for so long. I'm not completely up to speed on this so I could be wrong.
That seems like it might be the best of both worlds in some ways: laws can be enforced when it's genuinely important to do so (the record is there so presumably if you seize people's keys you can verify transactions), but not so cheaply as to entail practical mass surveillance and tyranny. In principle presumably a possible weakness is later large-scale decryption if the encryption gets broken -- but that's arguably much less useful to the would-be tyrants and surveillers.
Use cash.
The post I replied to said "could never be tracked". People using cash can be tracked if it's important to do so. Mass surveillance on cash transactions is trickier (though maybe with machine learning we'll decide that it's a great idea to track physical transactions of any kind using video etc.).
As in, I don’t even have to be an intermediary to see your transaction history for all time.
Please, do tell, how one can regulate and curtail illegal activities without asking for these details?
> the ability of intermediates to be able to track you fully afterwards.
Fair. This should not be allowed.