Monero (XMR) is featured in the new Netflix movie - The Lørenskog Disappearance
They're asking for nine million euros for her safe return, and to pay it in Monero.
What is that?
Cryptocurrency that can't be traced.
Right.
Didn't you know that?
Did you?
No, but you should have
That's the dialogue between two police officers at the beginning of The Lørenskog Disappearance - the new film on Netflix.
Actually, this Norwegian movie is from 2021 but only recently was added on Netflix. It has now multiple audio options (and of course an even bigger choice of subtitles) so now it's available for many non-English speakers.
Monero, Bitcoin, and cryptocurrency is the major subject of this movie which goes throughout all the film, which is based on real events. The wife of Norwegian billionaire is kidnapped and the kidnappers ask to pay the ransom in Monero. I don't want to go further into the storyline so it won't spoil your impression in case you plan to watch the film. But I will say, that cryptocurrencies are a serious part of the conversation, later Bitcoin is mentioned, and a police officer gives a briefing on Monero and its technical details.
Monero is constructed so that it is impossible to identify both sender and recipient. Monero is a relatively small cryptocurrency, so it will take time to get hold of such a large sum.
How much time?
At least two months.
Well, here I think the screenwriters made some mistake. Now the trading volume of Monero is 88 million USD, at the moment when I'm writing this article. The film is the new one, so depending on when it was written, they could take this into the account. Even if we assume this conversation was in November of 2018 (and as I understand the real event of kidnapping happened 31 October 2018), the daily trading volume of Monero was 10 - 30 Million USD during this month.
I recommend watching this film to everyone who likes detective movies (and this one has particular Nordic sharm, as the events happen in Oslo, Norway).
For us, as the global crypto community, this film has both positive and negative effects. Positive - is that once again crypto are mentioned, on the Netflix, on TV, on a high art level, more new people will know about crypto in general and Monero in particular. Negative - once again crypto is mentioned in a relation to something criminal and kidnapping with ransom request is a very scary thing, so some people can have negative emotions in relation to crypto. Will they become new crypto adopters? In any case cryptocurrencies are become more and more usual in all the aspects of lives of average people around the globe.
