Ordinary people use shipping and the internet every day. They do not use bitcoin. This article points out that, the last time a similar wave of crime occurred

Ordinary people use shipping and the internet every day. They do not use bitcoin. This article points out that, the last time a similar wave of crime occurred, the way it was defeated was by targeting the banks where the money changes hands. It is because cryptocurrencies do not currently function as usable currencies that the same trick could work again. If governments pass regulations making it illegal for financial institutions to process cryptocurrency transactions, companies/hackers will have no way to convert real money to and from bitcoin ransoms. Companies can't simply gather up bitcoin paid to them by their customers, because almost nobody uses bitcoin as an actual currency. The ransomers won't be able to spend their bitcoin on groceries and vodka because almost nobody uses bitcoin as an actual currency. Both parties need financial institutions to make the transaction work. Cryptocurrencies need to achieve real-world, everyday, legal usefulness fast or they're going to be strangled in their cradle by this. If the cost is massive amounts of energy use and billions of dollars of criminal damage annually, the benefit has to be more than providing a shell-game for finance gamblers and purely hypothetical future benefits.