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Pure privacy, without limitation, in money transfers would be catastrophic. Despite the consternation of hyperextreme libertarians sitting in their armchairs, the ability for the government to collect tax revenue is a pretty good thing and has broad societal benefits. Also allowing free flow of funds to terrorist groups is bad.

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Extremely private monetary transactions may be a net negative, and yet it may be the world we must adapt to, if the ability to do so now exists.

There is always room for “good honest police work”, though.

There are many roadblocks governments could use to slow progress, but I’m not sure this is truly preventable any more than PGP or BitTorrent could have been.

If income tax becomes logistically problematic, there are many other types of taxes that may then need to fill the void.

North Korea already funds it's nuclear program with crypto so it's a bit late for that.

Also despite crypto allowing for pure privacy already with coins like Monero, this hasn't stopped tax revenue. It's not a black-or-white issue, because only a tiny fraction of people will utilise this privacy due to technical hurdles and other limitations compared to paying with cash or card.

There's a reason Monero doesn't show up on exchanges that comply with US KYC rules.

Kraken…?

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