"But the early ransomware attacks long predate cryptocurrency – the first recorded is thought to have taken place in 1989..."
"Without the existence of cryptocurrencies, ransomware would still be a big problem, says Nick Biasini, head of outreach at Cisco Talos. “If you go way back and start at the beginning of ransomware before it became the pervasive issue that it is today, it was actually not based on cryptocurrencies. The payment system was designed around gift cards or various other types of payment cards that you could operate.”[1]
"The first known attack was initiated in 1989 by Joseph Popp, PhD, an AIDS researcher, who carried out the attack by distributing 20,000 floppy disks to AIDS researchers spanning more than 90 countries, claiming that the disks contained a program that analyzed an individual’s risk of acquiring AIDS through the use of a questionnaire. However, the disk also contained a malware program that initially remained dormant in computers, only activating after a computer was powered on 90 times. After the 90-start threshold was reached, the malware displayed a message demanding a payment of $189 and another $378 for a software lease. This ransomware attack became known as the AIDS Trojan, or the PC Cyborg."
[1]: https://techmonitor.ai/technology/cybersecurity/ransomware-a...
[2]: https://www.digitalguardian.com/blog/history-ransomware-atta...