Granting your premise, but: what is there to discuss about it? Cryptocurrencies are good for this, yes.
I am inferring (perhaps incorrectly) that you're saying this is an argument against cryptocurrencies. I think that's beside the the point: even outright outlawing cryptocurrencies wouldn't stop the technology from existing, and wouldn't discourage extortionists from using it to anonymously receive payments.
It would make it harder to pay, since you'd have to go outside of safe, legal channels to get money into the system.
If the best strategy when being extorted is to never pay or negotiate, then I suppose that could be a benefit. But, in that case it would be more efficient to just make it illegal to cooperate with extortion in the first place.
For all I know, this is already true. If not, let's try that first. If it is, it doesn't seem to matter, since people are paying ransomware hackers. Still, if paying at all is illegal, but people still do it, then making paying less convenient probably won't make much of a difference: they'll still ask for payment in crypto, and leave the logistics up to the victim.
I am inferring (perhaps incorrectly) that you're saying this is an argument against cryptocurrencies. I think that's beside the the point: even outright outlawing cryptocurrencies wouldn't stop the technology from existing, and wouldn't discourage extortionists from using it to anonymously receive payments.
It would make it harder to pay, since you'd have to go outside of safe, legal channels to get money into the system.
If the best strategy when being extorted is to never pay or negotiate, then I suppose that could be a benefit. But, in that case it would be more efficient to just make it illegal to cooperate with extortion in the first place.
For all I know, this is already true. If not, let's try that first. If it is, it doesn't seem to matter, since people are paying ransomware hackers. Still, if paying at all is illegal, but people still do it, then making paying less convenient probably won't make much of a difference: they'll still ask for payment in crypto, and leave the logistics up to the victim.