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I don't understand why people keep trying to frame BTC as some sorts of criminals tool.

Fast, nearly anonymous and free long distance transactions are a pretty big deal for non-criminals as well.

Did you ever try transferring a bigger amount of money to a country outside the EU and US? You'd be astonished by the fees and timescales involved.

Services like Western Union and Moneygram are not just used by criminals.

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Fast international money transfer is something that is already handled very well for those that truly need it. I know for a fact that the european central bank handles large volume transactions in a matter of seconds if not less. There is really no reason why traditional banks could not offer significantly shorter processing times for the majority of their services, it is just not in their interest to do so.

it is just not in their interest to do so

Interest is the keyword here. Banks collect it on their customers' money while they declare it to be 'in-flight'. This is the main reason why transactions that should take seconds are still deliberately delayed for days.

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