The indictment says:
involved the transport and transmission of funds that were known to the defendant to have been derived from a criminal offense and were intended to be used to promote and support unlawful activity
I wonder what that's about. I doubt that he was knowingly helping the Silk Road or anything like that...
The thing is... Why do people pay a premium for bitcoin when they can just buy it from an exchange by linking their bank? There are a lot of people that intentionally want to remain anonymous because they are laundering money or made the money illegally. I have asked some borrowers before why they can afford such high interest rates and they have told me the about their customers.