Despite the average American holding only about $60 in cash, the per capita amount of U.S. currency is over $7,000. This is because the vast majority—as much as five-eighths—of physical U.S. currency, particularly $100 bills, is held offshore as a global store of value.

Governments earn "seigniorage" by issuing physical currency, which functions as an interest-free loan. For the U.S., the $2.5 trillion in circulation represents a massive, interest-free debt obligation, creating a powerful financial incentive to continue printing large bills despite their use by criminals.

Despite banks spending vast sums on compliance, the criminal economy's share of global GDP remains unchanged since the 1990s. The regulations are burdensome and expensive but have only managed to prevent the criminal sector from growing *faster* than the overall economy.

The vast majority of global trade is funded by US dollars that exist outside the US, known as Eurodollars. This system operates beyond the Fed's direct control and relies entirely on trust. Money is created when banks extend credit and destroyed when they don't, making the global economy inherently fragile.

Like in the legitimate economy, the U.S. dollar is the "lingua franca" of international crime. Despite other currencies offering higher-denomination notes, the dollar's superior liquidity and universal acceptance make the $100 bill the preferred instrument for criminal transactions worldwide.

Crypto doesn't replace cash in money laundering; it enhances it. Criminals use physical cash for street-level transactions, then convert it to stablecoins for instantaneous, borderless transfer. This "stacking" combines cash's anonymity with digital speed, making laundering more efficient.

The focus on suspicious bank transactions misses the bigger picture. Laundering an estimated trillion dollars a year, criminals move value by mis-invoicing goods like tractors or luxury items, a method that is far more difficult to track than financial transfers.

The Federal Reserve's ability to print money is a direct mechanism to take value from every citizen without legislation. It is mathematically equivalent to government-sanctioned counterfeiting, devaluing currency and transferring wealth from the populace to the government, acting as a tax.

Central banks evolved from gold warehouses that discovered they could issue more paper receipts (IOUs) than the gold they held, creating a fraudulent but profitable "fractional reserve." This practice was eventually co-opted by governments to fund their activities, not for economic stability.