Bitcoin isn't inherently a privacy coin; rather, it stands as a genuinely decentralized cryptocurrency. Your level of privacy is determined by the measures you take to safeguard it, given that Bitcoin transactions are publicly accessible. If I possess your specific Bitcoin address, I can still trace your activities. Bitcoin's objective is to establish a decentralized payment system, eliminating the need for third-party intermediaries.
I do think that when most people have understood on how to utilize BTC, they somehow used it as a currency under the dark web in which it gained its popularity negatively. Sure, BTC may have the aspects of decentralization and its other effects may provide anonymity but its effects are more than that.
Bitcoin has nothing to do with crime
The decentralized nature of the technology is making people use it for criminal activities. Since the coin is decentralized, nobody knows and control your funds. No currency support crime but it is the criminals use them to commit their crime. Bitcoin came and see crime so nothing can be done to bypass that angle of the bitcoin activities. Crime is not written on the forehead of the criminals so they use it to execute there plans and transfer their money from the victims account to there wallet.
During that time, people were unaware of its true potential when you can definitely utilize it in a more efficient way. It just so happened that they were able to take advantage of one aspect in which it became the focal point of media. I just find it very unfortunate that media capitalized on this idea, thus increasing the stigma that BTC had been used for criminal activities.