Not a professional writer or anything, but this doesn't sound like a great story,
as is. I won't try to be purposefully harsh with these comments and questions:
1) What is the story? Is it centered around the family, the kidnappers, or the travels and trials of bitcoin? It seems like the currency is the protagonist, the kidnapping is the introduction to the protagonist, and then it becomes a sort-of problem without resolve for the kidnappers?
2) Similarly, what is the point of the second half? Is it suppose to become a tense, cat-and-mouse page turner? Do the kidnappers feel any tension or suspect being hunted? If so, then why would they? If not, then its only interesting from the view of the FBI agent. Maybe the kidnappers make mistakes? Also, why should we care if their money gains/loses value or crashes virtual markets?
3) Why is this Sci Fi? Seems like its a present day setting and realism, just utilizing a new technology some may not understand.
4) Whose your audience? Those into bitcoin, crime thrillers or general audience?
Not being familiar with bitcoin, the family at first freaks out. They then figure out how to buy enough bitcoin through OTC, or through whatever exchange to which they can find access. At first, this is a problem for this family because there is no bitcoin exchange which accepts their national currency. A nephew of the family is going to school in the USA and so buys bitcoin on an exchange to which he has access from the USA using US dollars.
Cue Benny Hill music?
The kidnappers, tired of waiting, ...
I think they shouldn't expect a quick, clean kidnapping when using a currency the targeted family has no clue about. Hell, if the family took half as long as any other bitcoin user in reading and trying to understand it (finding this forum and all other advice stressing people not to jump into it), they should expect at least a week before any real payment.
The victim returns to his family who now have a greater education into the intricacies of cyrpto-currency.
Hurrah?! Education trumps all else? What do you mean by this? Are we rooting for the kidnappers, taking delight in punishing and abusing those who don't know about bitcoin?
Now, here comes the problem. The kidnpapers return home to their safe first world country. In the mean time, the purchase of those 10,000 bitcoin has driven the price of bitcoin up by 30%. The kidnappers know they will have a hard time converting their bitcoin to fiat since every exchange now has decided to comply USA laws regarding money laundering and identifying customers and laws created to prevent the financing of terrorism. The kidnapping victim, unbeknownst to the kidnappers decided to hire a former FBI agent and white hat hacker to track them down.
The kidnappers had planned for that and have no intention of trying to convert their 10,000 bitcoin into fiat. They had bought several thousand bitcoin prior to the kidnapping, and when the price move up after the purchase of bitcoin in such great quantity by the ransomers, they all sold their holdings and made profit. But now, they have to figure out what to do with those 10,000 bitcoin.
So they don't know about the agent, but they planned for it, just in case? What's the point either way? Why should we care about this 10K BTC problem? Especially since they don't need it (because they bought and sold some bitcoin already)?
This exchange only requires users to supply their identifying documents if they want to withdraw fiat. The kidnappers do not want to withdraw fiat. They merely had planned all along to manipulate the market...
So they are part of a banking conspiracy? Why is it important they crash markets, gain or make bitcoin? This sounds like the paranoia, delusions and wetdreams of many on this forum.
After a couple of years, the kidnappers meet in San Diego at a coffee shop and decide to send their 10,000 bitcoin to a mixing service. They talked about making some large ridiculous bets at Satoshi Dice. They talked about just giving away the 10K BTX since they already made loads of money from manipulating the price by buying and selling their large quantity of bitcoin several times.
Isn't their only option to using many, many mixing services, right after they get their ransom? Isn't that their only hope of being able to use any of it? I mean, the blockchain is public, so if the ransom sits there at the sent address or any other address, then time doesn't matter, no?
