[jb775]

> The washing (transactions to hide origin) is the simple part

Isn't this the hard part? Not only this, but having to worry about physical transactions involving money...or the risk of traditional digital trails of bank transfers, etc?

My understanding is that NFT could clean up this aspect by 1) removing money transfer risk (probably use some sort of smart contract to guarantee transfer of NFT immediately to buyer upon successful bank transfer to seller) and 2) transferring underlying valuation to a subjective-valuation industry. Washing $ through a restaurant would open the restaurant up to possible scrutiny to prove they had higher food costs, etc...but NFTs appear to remove that risk since no one can really question increases to value of "art".

Also, technically the owners of the "high value" NFT could even be kept in the dark on the shady details if they are offered a quick buck by some offshore lawyer. They could probably even set it up to guarantee eventual transfer back to the original owner (netting them ~10% or so).