Cryptocurrency investors are facing a growing physical security threat as criminals increasingly use violence, kidnapping, burglary, and intimidation to steal digital assets.
These incidents, known as “wrench attacks,” bypass technical safeguards by targeting the person who controls a wallet rather than the wallet itself.
The term comes from the idea that strong encryption cannot protect a victim who is physically forced to reveal a password, seed phrase, or approve a transaction.
For criminals, crypto can appear attractive because transfers can be rapid, cross-border, and difficult to reverse once assets reach new wallets or cash-out services.
Unlike phishing, malware, or exchange breaches, wrench attacks combine financial crime with real-world surveillance and violence.
Attackers may identify targets through social-media posts, public business profiles, leaked data, peer-to-peer trading activity, or links to crypto companies. Investors, founders, executives, traders, and their relatives can all become targets.
Crypto Wrench Attacks Surge
France has become a prominent example of the threat. In January 2025, Ledger co-founder David Balland and his partner were kidnapped from their home in central France.
The attackers reportedly demanded a EUR 10 million ransom. French authorities later rescued both victims and arrested suspects.
In May 2025, the father of a cryptocurrency entrepreneur was abducted in Paris.
The attackers allegedly demanded a ransom of between EUR 5 million and EUR 7 million. Police rescued the victim after roughly 58 hours and detained several people connected to the case.
That same month, masked attackers attempted to abduct the daughter and grandson of a crypto company executive in Paris’ 11th arrondissement.
The attempted kidnapping happened in daylight, but the child’s father and nearby bystanders intervened, forcing the attackers to flee.
The pattern is not limited to France. In the United States, authorities have pursued cases involving crypto theft, money laundering, home invasions, and organized criminal activity.
One major case involved allegations that suspects tracked people believed to hold significant cryptocurrency and targeted them for physical theft, including the theft of a hardware wallet during a home burglary.
US courts have also imposed severe penalties in crypto-linked violent crime. In September 2024, a New York judge sentenced Gilbert St.
Felix to 47 years in prison for leading a violent home-invasion ring that targeted cryptocurrency holders. Investigators used blockchain analysis and exchange cooperation to connect stolen funds to the group.
The United Kingdom and Canada have reported similar attacks. UK victims have been robbed at gunpoint or knifepoint and forced to transfer Bitcoin.
Canadian police have warned investors after home invasions, impersonation of law enforcement, physical assaults, and extortion cases involving digital assets, trmlabs said.
Crypto wealth can be visible even when wallet owners believe they are anonymous.
A public wallet address, social-media post, luxury purchase, conference appearance, company biography, or online discussion about profits can help criminals build a profile of a potential victim.
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