Dark Web – Justice League

> Over the past few weeks the FBI, Department of Justice (DOJ), Interpol, and other international law enforcement agencies have worked together to incarcerate and indict ransomware threat actors. Through this effort, millions of dollars in ransom payments have been recovered.

yet still, cryptocurrency gets blamed for all the ransomware. nevermind that clearly the law is able to find some course to take, or the unsolved cases unrelated unrelated crypto or any of the myriad of studies about why crime exists. no, the mere existence of monero is why we have international criminal syndicates. never happened with drug cartels or insider trading rings. heck even warlords are bitcoins fault.

odd rant, I know, but the argument that "all that crypto does is encourage criminals" is willfully ignorant. tale as old as time.

"what did they do before crypto then smartie pants"

cash.

and before that: gold. probably shiny rocks before that.

we could try defeat these actors but honestly I am unable to believe it's just human nature. we suck sometimes

There’s a book I really enjoyed called Narconomics.

It helps explain all aspects of the drug trade through the lens of business.

One of the most fascinating takeaways was how they handle “contract enforcement” in the absence of a legal system or courts (hint: Violence)

I recall an anecdote that Mexican cartels would hire Mexicans —- and not Dutch —- in order to serve as drug mules smuggling product into Amsterdam. Dutch mules would get caught less often, but Mexicans were much less likely to steal the drugs entirely. Because when you sign up to be a mule they take down the names and addresses of your entire family (nearby), and will kill them if you steal the product. Contract enforcement.

This makes a whole lot of sense. How can a transaction happen if reputation is not vouched for or established? It is why crooks start building networks and start asking lots of questions about groups. Wherever there is a case of money , there is an angle for reputation building. For the more mature, they categorize this as acceptable losses.

No. There would need to be many more meetings and countless committees from groups of random people who all acclaim to hold some sort of power.

> Through this effort, millions of dollars in ransom payments have been recovered

I'm curious about who gets this money? I certainly have never heard of a company getting their money back from the feds.