It turns out that bitcoin is a terrible tool for money laundering. The trouble is that all bitcoin transactions are tracked so if they want to catch you, they can go back into the system and figure out who you are
In fact, the final outcome may depend greatly on the efforts applied
Basically, I agree that Bitcoin is not very overall for money laundering (for the reasons you mentioned). But there are a few ifs that could make laundering money a viable option (a disclaimer, the following is purely for educational purposes, I don't in any way endorse money laundering). First, you can transfer bitcoins without leaving a trace on the blockchain, e.g. by using Bitcoins sticks like Opendime devices which allow hand-to-hand transactions in pretty much the same way as with cash money. Second, with the advent of off-chain payments (e.g. with the introduction of Lightning Network), you would be able to transfer massive amounts of wealth without leaving a trace on the blockchain either. As an aside, mixers like miners should be strongly opposing LN since, essentially, payment channels which could be set up after LN is activated would work as instant mixers on their own but with substantilly low fees and in a more distributed (read secure) manner
