French Crypto Chiefs Step Up Security After Violent Kidnappings

Europe|French Crypto Chiefs Step Up Security After String of Violent Kidnappings

A man, beaten and doused in gasoline, was found in the trunk of a car. A couple were abducted before dawn from their countryside house and sped to separate locations. A woman was attacked in broad daylight on a Paris street by men trying to drag her into a van.

Over the past six months in France, these violent, headline-grabbing kidnappings or attempted kidnappings, followed by demands for hefty ransoms, had one common thread: All targeted people with ties to the cryptocurrency world — in most cases, family members of crypto entrepreneurs or influencers.

While the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies has enticed criminals around the globe — including in the United States — the spree of recent attacks in France has shocked many by their brazenness, brutality and copycat nature. In two instances, the kidnappers cut off a victim’s finger to scare families and colleagues into paying millions of euros in ransom, the authorities said — and in one of those cases, they threatened to drill into the victim’s knee, according to France’s interior minister.

The kidnappings were ultimately thwarted by the police or bystanders. The Paris police said 24 people were taken into custody on Monday and Tuesday in connection with the attempted kidnapping of a cryptocurrency entrepreneur’s daughter in Paris, which was captured in a disturbing video.

As alarm spreads through France’s burgeoning crypto industry, big players are saying that new European cryptocurrency regulations may be giving hackers access to sensitive personal data to track their targets. They are pushing the government to make the rules safer — and stepping up their own personal security.

“Everyone is thinking about who is next,” said Owen Simonin, a French influencer and entrepreneur specializing in cryptocurrency who was startled in 2022 when a man arrived on his doorstep with a gun and demanded money.