Those that are pro Bitcoin they are constantly trying to argue how it can save money on international transfers, how it is not really anonymous .

Bitcoin could be interpreted as a 'pseudo-anonymous' network. It is anonymous in the sense that you can hold a Bitcoin address without revealing anything about your identity in that address. One person could hold multiple addresses, and in theory, there would be nothing to link those addresses together, or to indicate that the person owned them.

All of this is well and good until we get a news article like the one below that has just come out in relation to the Ashley Madison dating site hack: A report from CoinDesk shows that those who had their personal data hacked can have them back — but it’s going to cost them in bitcoin. Hackers known as the Impact Team have since released a list that contains around 33 million users and the users’ data from the dating affairs website. Allegedly, among that data is that of thousands of users linked to corporate and government email accounts.

And here’s the message the hackers are allegedly sending to those who were hacked: “Unfortunately your data was leaked in the recent hacking of Ashley Madison and I now have your information,” the message stated. “If you would like to prevent me from finding and sharing this information with your significant other send exactly 2.00000054 bitcoins (approx. Value $450 USD) to the following address…”

So yet again we are seeing criminals revert to the use of Bitcoins as their preferred method of payment, why well obviously criminals certainly believe that it is anonymous and if they are paid in Bitcoins they cannot be traced. As long as Bitcoin continues to be the preferred currency of criminals due to its anonymity then Bitcoin will never be seen as a legitimate and regulated product.

It can be argued that US Dollar notes have the same problem, but there is generally the need for the person to receiving them to do in in person, providing a method of identifying them. With Bitcoin and the world of digital payments the funds can go anywhere in the world instantly with no traceability.