> But the corporate ransomware model doesn't cease to work if instead of having your negotiation team turn the corporation's cash into Bitcoins they instead have to go to Western Union and turn it into rubles. We're talking about a $100M transaction, heck, you could charter a plane to Russia and it would be a rounding error in the end.

Do you seriously think that:

A. Any western union on the planet keeps $10m cash on hand or even 10% of that?

B. The US would even allow western union to participate?

Crypto is absolutely a requirement for this racket to work.