[ThrustVectoring]

I have the option of exchanging money for bitcoin and then sending it somewhere. Lots of ransomware includes detailed instructions for how to do this, along with phone support to walk you through this process. This isn't a hypothetical, and I don't own crypto, and I don't want someone to encrypt my hard drive and then give me instructions for buying crypto and sending it to them.

[pwinnski]

You do realize that the act of encrypting your hard drive and demanding ransom for it is illegal, right? So requiring illegal crypto for the ransom is no obstacle.

[ThrustVectoring]

You're missing the point - it's not about making receiving the cryptocurrency illegal. It's about making buying the cryptocurrency illegal or otherwise infeasible. The unit economics of ransomware stop making sense when more of the victims are unable or unwilling to pay. Making cryptocurrency illegal makes ransomware victims less able and willing to pay the ransom.

[cowboysauce]

So malware writers will switch to different techniques to obtain ransom. For example, there was an online illicit marketplace akin to silkroad that ran years before cryptocurrencies were even invented. It used Western union money transfers, if I'm remembering correctly, and ran for years before law enforcement was able to shut it down.

[true_religion]

Western Union transactions required someone be physically present to pick it up, so you could catch them. How do you freeze a Bitcoin wallet or find who is using it in a straightforward manner?

[jabgrabdthrow]

I’ll just have you drop a suitcase of cash in a high foot traffic area with no camera. Much smoother than it sounds, nobody pays attention. You’ll still have to do a few other illegal things in any case though.