Fully anonymous global ransomware would be really hard without cryptos.
Monetizing hacked boxes would be much tougher if you could not turn them into Monero miners.
Monetizing hacked boxes would be much tougher if you could not turn them into Monero miners.
Dark markets are described as a small piece of the pie for LE.
But P2P music sharing / digital music sales was also that way until they couldn't be ignored and ultimately destroyed traditional music distribution.
There is a reason big, reliable markets get shut down and it isn't all exit scams. It's because they're incredibly successful and they would not be so without crypto.
The ransomware market is too hard for most to get into and the "deals" take time to put together. There's not a great reason for them to prop up coin value.
However, dark markets are open to just about anyone, and presumably haven't even begun to touch growth potential.
All that said: throw in parent's value prop too--is bitcoin worth $20k a coin today? IDK, maybe? I sold bitcoin-embroidered hoodies at the first ever national bitcoin conference in san jose for half a coin and that seemed a bit nuts.
Traditional music distribution was buying an easily damaged CD for $20 a pop (in 90's dollars). We would have moved to digital distribution anyway, P2P was just a catalyst.
That must be why ransomware demands were so much higher in the pre-bitcoin era. Unless you're including the cost of sending a cargo jet full of cash or gold halfway around the world?
There is a reason ransom amounts skyrocketed when cryptocurrency entered the picture, and no, it's not because it was "the early days" pre-bitcoin.