Crypto Kidnappings on the Rise: How to Protect Yourself and Your Assets

In 2025, France, known for its cultural elegance and financial influence, has unfortunately become a hotspot for kidnappings related to cryptocurrency. This marks a worrying change in the risks tied to owning digital wealth. Many people thought that cryptocurrency, being decentralized and private, would protect its holders from real-world dangers. However, a series of violent kidnappings targeting the French crypto community is proving otherwise.

Near Abduction of Paymium CEO’s Daughter Shocks Paris

The most recent and chilling case occurred in May 2025, when the daughter of Pierre Noizat, CEO of Paymium, one of France’s longest-standing Bitcoin exchanges, was nearly kidnapped outside her home in Paris. The assailants, believed to be professionals, attempted to force her into a van in broad daylight. Fortunately, her husband and a neighbor intervened swiftly, foiling the abduction attempt.

Authorities suspect the attackers had knowledge of her family’s crypto involvement, suggesting pre-meditated targeting based on perceived wealth held in digital assets. Noizat, a prominent figure in the European blockchain ecosystem, has since enhanced his family’s security protocols, emphasizing how “being public in crypto today is an open invitation for criminal interest.”

A Severed Finger for Crypto Access

Just months before the Paris incident, David Balland, co-founder of the well-known hardware wallet firm Ledger, was abducted along with his wife from their countryside home in central France. According to law enforcement sources, the couple was held captive for several days, during which Balland was subjected to torture, including having a finger severed, as criminals tried to force him to reveal wallet seed phrases and PINs.

The attackers demanded a €10 million ransom in cryptocurrency, confident that Balland, a security engineer with access to high-value wallets, could facilitate a swift transfer. Thankfully, police intelligence operations tracked the gang and executed a successful raid, rescuing the couple before the ransom was paid.

This incident sent shockwaves through the global crypto community. Balland, an expert in wallet security, was ironically targeted for the very thing he helped develop, secure asset storage. Ledger later issued a statement urging all crypto users to consider their personal physical safety as part of their broader security strategy.

The New York Crypto Torture Case

While France has seen a disturbing concentration of incidents, the threat is not confined to Europe. In a gruesome cross-continental case, New York authorities arrested investor John Woeltz after it was revealed he had kidnapped and tortured a 28-year-old Italian crypto holder. The victim, lured to a supposed investment meeting, was held in a basement for weeks, subjected to electrical shocks, blade wounds, and starvation in an effort to extract access to a personal crypto wallet reportedly holding hundreds of thousands in Bitcoin.

The victim ultimately escaped and alerted authorities, triggering a wider investigation into targeted crypto-related assaults across the U.S. and Europe. Woeltz, once an active member in DeFi investment circles, now faces charges of aggravated kidnapping, torture, and attempted extortion.

Why Are Crypto Kidnappings Happening Now?

So, why is this scary trend picking up? Well, a few reasons.

First off, the value of crypto has exploded in recent years. If you’re holding a lot of Bitcoin or other digital assets, you might as well be walking around with a briefcase full of cash at least in the eyes of criminals. And since crypto is fast and anonymous, it’s the perfect tool for ransom payments. No banks, no borders, no questions asked. But here’s where it gets tricky. Some folks in the crypto world think that new regulations especially in Europe might be making things worse. For example, the EU’s “travel rule” forces crypto platforms to collect and share details about who’s sending and receiving crypto. On top of that, in France, crypto entrepreneurs have to register their names and addresses in a government database. That kind of info, if it falls into the wrong hands, can make wealthy crypto holders easy targets.

As one Ledger co-founder put it, hackers used to go after your computer, now they might come after you. Since it’s getting harder to hack crypto wallets, some criminals are turning to physical threats what the community calls “wrench attacks”. It’s a scary shift, and it’s a wake-up call for anyone in crypto, it’s not just about protecting your wallet anymore, it’s about protecting yourself.

How to Protect Yourself from Crypto Kidnappings

As a crypto journalist, I’ve had the chance to talk with some of the sharpest minds in the industry about how to stay safe and honestly, the advice is something every crypto holder should hear. Jameson Lopp, the co-founder of Casa and a well-known security expert, had a lot to say. Here are the key strategies he and others recommend to protect yourself: