Until a company like SABR.io posts a detailed mega-file of hundreds of darknet user's recent activities as proof of concept. Using a public ledger for a DNM is about one of the most absurd things ever when a vastly superior alternative exists.
This is indeed strange and unreasonable. They simply dont adopt. Why?!
Chicken and egg to some extent. Monero is small and relatively unknown for another. Okay, its pumped a bit, and is now a reasonably solid #8 by market cap (not the only ranking of course).
By "pumped a bit", I assume you mean some individual or group intentionally inflated the price temporarily. Do you have any thoughts about who has been pumping it, how much the price (and volume) has been pumped, and how those amounts compare (in %) for other coins on Poloniex (such as ETH)?