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You're forgetting one major use: actual crime. Black-market drug sales probably won't be too affected by the crash, they already had a network before Bitcoin.

You're forgetting one major use: actual crime. Black-market drug sales probably won't be too affected by the crash, they already had a network before Bitcoin. But ransomware! Oh man, that's nowhere near as easy nor as profitable without a high-value cruptocurrency. If the crypto crash ALSO took out ransomware developers, that's two birds with one stone, as far as I'm concerned.

talltimtom 8y ago
Randomware doesn’t care about the exchange rate. They just funnel cash through crypto’s because it’s a simple way for them to take digital payment. In the down market they can’t cash out as many dollars per bitcoins, but the victims also get way more bitcoin for the same amount of dollars. A low valuation might affect coinminer malware though.
- justapassenger 8y ago
  They need payment providers, that are easy enough for an average joe to use. That may be harder to get
  - manigandham 8y ago
    Are bitcoin payments somehow easy for the average person to use now? Seems unlikely.
    - andirk 8y ago
      Learning how to properly use paper money was something I learnt at age 7. Debit card at age 15. Credit card at age 23. Bitcoin at age 31. Bartering hides with the natives at age 90.
- wpietri 8y ago
  They do care, though, that Bitcoin has non-crime use. If the crash means that speculation drops significantly (which I expect to be the case) then it could be a reasonably quick slide to where "bitcoin" in effect means "crime dollars". That in turn means that a lot of exchanges will shut down due to low volume and regulatory pressure. There's little point to using Bitcoin for ransom if your victims have a hard time getting money in and you can't get your ill-gotten gains out.
palebluedot 8y ago
> But ransomware! Oh man, that's nowhere near as easy nor as profitable without a high-value cruptocurrency. If the crypto crash ALSO took out ransomware developers, that's two birds with one stone, as far as I'm concerned. That'd be great, but so long as there is some nominal value in cash to some cryptocurrency, wouldn't ransomware just ask for the same amount of underlying money? That is, just increase the number of coins required for ransom? The big benefit in cryptocoins for ransomware isn't the increasing value, but the fact there is no intermediary that can turn off accounts or rollback transactions.
- intrasight 8y ago
  I guess that's true, as there's no alternative means of getting paid. But the downward spiral in price perhaps make ransomware a less attractive occupation now.
  - lozaning 8y ago
    The downward spiral in price will only result in you having to buy more units of currency to pay the same dollar amount of ransom. It's the same with the dark markets. It's not like dealers are suddenly going to charge less money for drugs now just because the intermediary transaction currency is worth less.
Scoundreller 8y ago
iTunes gift cards or the like seem to be more popular than cryptocoins it seems. Banks are much happier to deal with you when your source of income is "The Apple Store", instead of a crypto exchange.

talltimtom 8y ago

Randomware doesn’t care about the exchange rate. They just funnel cash through crypto’s because it’s a simple way for them to take digital payment. In the down market they can’t cash out as many dollars per bitcoins, but the victims also get way more bitcoin for the same amount of dollars. A low valuation might affect coinminer malware though.

justapassenger 8y ago
They need payment providers, that are easy enough for an average joe to use. That may be harder to get
- manigandham 8y ago
  Are bitcoin payments somehow easy for the average person to use now? Seems unlikely.
  - andirk 8y ago
    Learning how to properly use paper money was something I learnt at age 7. Debit card at age 15. Credit card at age 23. Bitcoin at age 31. Bartering hides with the natives at age 90.
wpietri 8y ago
They do care, though, that Bitcoin has non-crime use. If the crash means that speculation drops significantly (which I expect to be the case) then it could be a reasonably quick slide to where "bitcoin" in effect means "crime dollars". That in turn means that a lot of exchanges will shut down due to low volume and regulatory pressure. There's little point to using Bitcoin for ransom if your victims have a hard time getting money in and you can't get your ill-gotten gains out.

palebluedot 8y ago

> But ransomware! Oh man, that's nowhere near as easy nor as profitable without a high-value cruptocurrency. If the crypto crash ALSO took out ransomware developers, that's two birds with one stone, as far as I'm concerned. That'd be great, but so long as there is some nominal value in cash to some cryptocurrency, wouldn't ransomware just ask for the same amount of underlying money? That is, just increase the number of coins required for ransom? The big benefit in cryptocoins for ransomware isn't the increasing value, but the fact there is no intermediary that can turn off accounts or rollback transactions.

intrasight 8y ago
I guess that's true, as there's no alternative means of getting paid. But the downward spiral in price perhaps make ransomware a less attractive occupation now.
- lozaning 8y ago
  The downward spiral in price will only result in you having to buy more units of currency to pay the same dollar amount of ransom. It's the same with the dark markets. It's not like dealers are suddenly going to charge less money for drugs now just because the intermediary transaction currency is worth less.

Scoundreller 8y ago

iTunes gift cards or the like seem to be more popular than cryptocoins it seems. Banks are much happier to deal with you when your source of income is "The Apple Store", instead of a crypto exchange.