Dr Jonathan Lusthaus - Director of The Human Cybercriminal Project in the Department of Sociology and a Research Fellow at Nuffield College, University of Oxford - presented the research behind his latest book, Industry of Anonymity: Inside the Business of Cybercrime to an audience of academics, students, IT professionals and the general public.
Lusthaus's research examines this underground economy and how it works. Here is an interesting excerpt from the book regarding virtual currencies: "The advent of virtual currencies has been vital to the expansion of profit-driven cybercrime. Without a functioning monetary system, widespread trade and online payments would have been very difficult to facilitate. [...] Bitcoin arose as an increasingly important currency among cybercriminals. Like other virtual currencies, it allows users to maintain anonymity, while offering the added advantage of being decentralized."
You can buy his book here. If you missed out on this fascinating talk, you can watch the full recording here.