That seems unlikely given the volumes of trading we've been seeing. We probably should have heard about a spike in ransomware last week if there is a causal relationship.
Disclosure: I work for stellar and I have no clue what caused the spike in trading and price.
Still doesn't prove causality of course, but there's an article on the front page at this very moment about a spike in ransomware. And most ransomware (and ransom in general) is paid quietly, not discussed publicly.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14324129
Unless I'm reading things wrongs (and that certainly could be) it seems like the ransom from those hosts would still be several orders of magnitude lower than the new money that appears to be coming into the exchanges.
Sure, could be. I mean, from my perspective the whole term ICO has come out of nowhere and there could also be some bullshit hype money around that too. I hadn't heard the term until a couple months ago and now there are articles about my employer having done one.
I've given up trying to guess the markets in cryptocurrencies... I wouldn't have the first clue how to divine any accurate insight from their movement alone. To me, there has been tons of really weird phenomena in the behavior of the altcoin markets for a while now.
Disclosure: I work for stellar and I have no clue what caused the spike in trading and price.