Adam Shostack  Mar 19, 2024

Banning ransomware payments is an incredibly attractive idea.

Proponents need to explain why it’s going to work any better than bans on buying drugs. Why will two “willing” participants not going to find a way? What do we gain by adding criminal penalties to victims trying to recover their businesses?

Show threadDiogenes PontifxMar 19, 2024
@adamshostack Can someone explain to me why it wouldn’t be more effective to make payment effectively impossible by banning cryptocurrency? Stopping ransomware would be just one of the benefits.
Show thread⁂Krafty⁂ #NoKingsMar 19, 2024
@dpontifex @adamshostack please tell me you're not genuinely in support of banning cryptocurrency.
Show threadDiogenes PontifxMar 19, 2024
@tkk13909 I realize there may be practical difficulties. Are there any downsides? After 16 years, the primary use case seems to be ransomware payments, followed closely by money laundering, narcotics, greenhouse gases and Ponzi schemes. What have I missed?
Show thread⁂Krafty⁂ #NoKings

@dpontifex oh I don't know... Maybe the fact that paper money is being phased out and the only private payment system left would be cryptocurrency.

A lot of your argument simply stems from the idea that if a system is mostly used by criminals, it should be banned. This argument could easily be applied to the Tor network which several countries have tried. You wanna guess what the state of freedom is in those countries?

Mar 19, 2024 at 5:23amWeb
Show thread⁂Krafty⁂ #NoKingsMar 19, 2024
@dpontifex Any system that provides complete anonymity will inevitably be used by criminals but is also crucial to maintain a proper and free democracy.