Bitcoin can be easily tracked. If they make the exchanges refuse to accept coins that have been through a mixer / laundered then everything is trivially trackable.
Even dollar bills can in theory be marked and tracked. Each one has its own number, it's just that they aren't registered on a global ledger. The real advantage of bitcoin was that no one can block your payment or confiscate your money.
But once it's trackable, they can keep a list of "blacklisted" coins which regulated exchanges will refuse to cash out for things. And which will make it hard to pay for actual stuff (eg expedia via BitPay) with them.
Even dollar bills can in theory be marked and tracked. Each one has its own number, it's just that they aren't registered on a global ledger. The real advantage of bitcoin was that no one can block your payment or confiscate your money.
But once it's trackable, they can keep a list of "blacklisted" coins which regulated exchanges will refuse to cash out for things. And which will make it hard to pay for actual stuff (eg expedia via BitPay) with them.