This doesn't surprise me...like wars influence the weapon industry production or the threat of chemical attacks boosting the sales of gas masks...
"...This is Carson's starting point. If you want to manipulate Bitcoin value, he told SecurityWeek, you cause a sudden increase in the number of users. This is most easily measured by the number of Bitcoin wallets in existence. A global ransomware outbreak, demanding payment by Bitcoin, would certainly have such an effect: both direct victims and judicious organizations are likely to obtain wallets..." Yeah -- howsabout Japan officially authorizing Bitcoin as a legal form of payment on April 1, and the subsequent relentless Japanese purchasing frenzy of Bitcoins that has followed? IMHO this theory, while very interesting, exhibits a security professional's tunnel vision that ignores real world financial considerations. See as one example out of dozens: "Reuters 2 May 2017 • 1:23pm Bitcoin surged to an all-time high above $1,400 (£1,084) on Tuesday, after more than tripling in value over the past year, with its most recent rise attributed to strong demand in Japan, where the digital currency has been deemed a legal means of payment. Cryptocompare, a data website that analyses bitcoin trading across dozens of exchanges globally, said around 50 per cent of trading volume over the past 24 hours had been on the bitcoin/Japanese yen exchange rate..." http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/05/02/bitcoin-price-surges-all-time-high-1400/
On the topic of Ransomeware Theory, generally, I thought this was interesting: "Economists have figured out how to extract the most profit from ransomware..." https://thenextweb.com/insider/2017...w-to-extract-the-most-profit-from-ransomware/ Thinking that when all is said and done were gonna have more theories on who is responsible for WannaCry and their motives than Fido has pups. In addition to theory the advanced in the article linked by itman as to the motives, the latest theories as to the "Who" are that it was not a North Korean group that was behind Wannacry, but rather a Chinese group. The latter theory being based on a deeper study of the language peculiarities in the code, but this new theory has already spawned it's own group of debunkers.
To support that theory we would probably need at least an estimate how many new Bitcoin wallets were opened after May 12 compared to period before that date.