> This is meant sincerely, not glibly: How? How can cryptocurrencies be banned in any meaningful sense?
The main avenue would be by getting rid of the sanctioned on/off ramps for crypto (that is, crypto exchanges), leaving only the illegal on/off ramps which I'm sure exist.
This obviously wouldn't stop everybody, but it would certainly be a deterrent for all but the most motivated and well-connected of buyers. At that point, exchanging a large amount of crypto would be similar to laundering a large sum of dirty money; possible, but not trivial and certainly not an "easy out" for a major corporation experiencing a ransomware attack.
The main avenue would be by getting rid of the sanctioned on/off ramps for crypto (that is, crypto exchanges), leaving only the illegal on/off ramps which I'm sure exist.
This obviously wouldn't stop everybody, but it would certainly be a deterrent for all but the most motivated and well-connected of buyers. At that point, exchanging a large amount of crypto would be similar to laundering a large sum of dirty money; possible, but not trivial and certainly not an "easy out" for a major corporation experiencing a ransomware attack.