Hunting for crypto wealth: criminals attack families of entrepreneurs
Date: 2025-05-20 Author: Henry Casey Categories: CRYPTO PAYMENTS
Cryptocurrency company executives are increasingly facing threats of physical violence - not only online, but also in real life. In response to a wave of kidnappings and attempts to extort digital assets, many of them are starting to resort to the services of bodyguards, WSJ reports.
One of the striking examples is the attack on the daughter of Paymium founder Pierre Noiz on May 13. Three unknown masked men tried to force her and her child into a van right in the center of Paris. Despite the fact that the criminals were armed only with pepper spray and a toy gun, the situation was extremely dangerous. The victim's husband resisted, suffering a head injury, and a neighbor managed to hide the child. The attackers fled when passers-by began to flock to the scene.
Such incidents are part of a growing trend of wrench attacks, when cryptocurrency is stolen not by hacking, but through threats of physical violence. In France alone, at least five such incidents have been recorded in recent months. In Estonia, attackers attempted to kidnap an Australian crypto billionaire, and in Houston, armed robbers broke into the home of a crypto blogger, demanding that he hand over his laptop.
Casa co-founder Jameson Lopp notes that even maximum protection of assets offline does not eliminate risks: “Hiding bitcoins does not mean protecting against blackmail.”
A growing threat is also associated with personal data leaks. After the Ledger database was hacked in 2020, the addresses of hundreds of thousands of users ended up on the darknet. Later, a similar situation happened with Kroll and affected Genesis clients. Having received this data, criminals begin to collect dossiers on potential victims using doxing techniques.
According to MetaMask analyst Taylor Monahan, many young hackers are able to effectively compare disparate data to accurately determine a person's identity and location.
Amid the worsening situation, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau met with representatives of the crypto business on May 14, proposing to introduce additional security measures. He noted that many of the perpetrators of the attacks are on Telegram and are acting on orders from anonymous organizers.
One of the most horrific episodes was the kidnapping of Ledger co-founder David Balland in January. For a ransom of €10 million in USDT, the criminals cut off his finger.
Amid all this, the crypto community is going into the shadows: users are hiding profiles, removing addresses from public sources. Pierre Noiz is calling on the authorities to review the rules for disclosing client data in order to minimize the impact of leaks.
Eric Larchevêque, the former CEO of Ledger, took to social media to slam the issue: “How many more entrepreneurs must leave before France finally starts protecting its citizens?” He called the situation the “Mexicanization” of the country.
Meanwhile, on May 15, Coinbase reported that user data had been compromised as a result of a bribe paid to overseas support staff. The company refused to pay the $20 million ransom and launched an internal investigation.
