Are cryptocurrencies revolutionising finance, or are they simply empowering cybercriminals and state-sponsored hackers?

Welcome to Razorwire, the podcast where we share our take on the world of cybersecurity with direct, practical advice for professionals and business owners alike. I'm Jim, and in this episode, we're tackling one of the most polarising topics at the intersection of finance and security: cryptocurrency.

I'm joined by Richard Cassidy, Oliver Rochford and Jonathan Care, and together, we debate whether Bitcoin has solved any real problems or simply enabled cybercriminals to operate at an unprecedented scale, with 98% of ransomware payments now made in cryptocurrency.

Summary

This episode looks at how cryptocurrency has impacted real-world security and policy, including how it has facilitated over $3 billion in theft by state-sponsored groups like Lazarus to fund North Korea's nuclear programme and romance scams that have drained 4.6 billion victims with zero recourse. Everything illegal in traditional financial markets is legal in crypto. Yet in Argentina, Venezuela and Nigeria, people use it to preserve value against hyperinflation and bypass authoritarian controls. The debate centres on whether governments truly control crypto through exchanges and legal tender conversion, whether blockchain transparency helps law enforcement more than it helps criminals and whether ransomware payment rates dropping to 19% proves cybersecurity is winning despite crypto, not because of it.

Three key talking points from this episode:

1. Criminal Infrastructure and the Ransomware Economy. Find out how cryptocurrency is used for ransomware payments and how this has enabled the ransomware epidemic. Learn about state-sponsored theft, romance scams operating at an industrial scale and why dark web marketplaces like Hydra and AlphaBay succeeded Silk Road in facilitating organised crime. Discover the impact of payment rates dropping to 19% as companies choose disaster recovery over paying criminals.
2. Government Control vs Decentralisation Claims. Explore the heated debate about whether governments truly control cryptocurrency through regulating exchanges and legal tender conversion or whether the protocol itself remains ungovernable. Learn why KYC requirements at exchanges undermine the original vision of anonymity, how states force participation through tax requirements and whether crypto can function without an army to back it.
3. Real-World Use Cases vs Original Promises. Discover how cryptocurrency is being used in Argentina, Venezuela and Nigeria to preserve value against hyperinflation and bypass authoritarian capital controls. Examine whether these legitimate use cases justify a technology that hasn't solved its original problems: transaction speed remains too slow for real-time use, energy consumption is enormous compared to Visa, scalability hasn't improved and volatility undermines its claim as a stable store of value.

If you’re a cybersecurity professional looking to understand both the promise and peril of cryptocurrency, this episode is essential listening.

On the lawless nature of cryptocurrency:

"Every scam, every market rig that has been outlawed in real world money markets is wide open in crypto. As Richard points out, we're not only deregulated, it is lawless."

Jonathan Care

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