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A string of crypto kidnappings across Europe and the US have put executives and investors on edge. A brutal scene unfolded in New York City over the holiday weekend, when a Kentucky man was arrested and accused of torturing an Italian tourist to obtain access to his crypto wallet.
Concerns have grown after hackers stole from Coinbase, the largest crypto exchange, the names, addresses, and account balances of some customers. “This hack will lead to people dying,” TechCrunch founder and crypto investor Michael Arrington wrote on X.
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Kidnapping for crypto has become increasingly common in Europe, especially France. Masked assailants unsuccessfully attempted to kidnap the daughter of a prominent crypto executive off the streets of Paris this month, while the co-founder of Ledger, a widely used physical crypto wallet maker, was kidnapped alongside his wife and mutilated earlier this year. Both were committed in an effort to get millions in crypto ransom, according to French police, who arrested twenty individuals they believe were involved in the plots yesterday.
Crypto enthusiasts blame rules that require companies to collect personal data in the first place. “This issue is much bigger than crypto, and regulation is the actual thing to target,” investor Balaji Srinivasan wrote in response to Arrington’s post. But kidnappings stemming from hacks of banks — which have to collect that same data — are vanishingly rare, suggesting that crypto’s vulnerability lies in the untraceability (to a point) of payments and its usefulness in criminal enterprises.
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- Crypto-related kidnappings make “total sense” to criminals, a former US Marine and founder of the security firm Station70 told The New York Post: “It’s a lot easier – lower risk – and it’s a much bigger payout than, say, robbing a bank or robbing a convenience store.”