I know those are traditionally buzz words but are they here? Trying to analyze traditionally anonymous payment methods that are virtual the only way randsomware is paid off seems like not a crazy idea.
It's not crazy, but tracing blockchain transactions has been done since blockchains were invented. I'm not sure if new AI techniques are helpful or not.
"Identifying non-obvious patterns in messy data" is a textbook application for ML. I don't know if it'd be helpful or not - it's unwise to believe anyone who asserts that ML will definitely work better than traditional statistical methods - but it's definitely worth trying.
