While crypto millionaires flaunt their digital fortunes online, criminals are turning virtual wealth into real-world nightmares. A disturbing wave of kidnappings and violent attacks has rocked the cryptocurrency community, with 22 physical assaults documented globally by May 2025. France has become ground zero for these brutal crimes, reporting six incidents in 2025 alone.
Crypto wealth has become a dangerous liability, turning digital millionaires and their families into targets for brutal physical attacks worldwide.
The attackers aren’t exactly subtle. They’re snatching victims right off the streets, grabbing them while walking dogs or going about their daily routines. A recent attack in Paris’s 11th district saw three masked men target the daughter and grandson of a Paymium co-founder. And here’s the twist – they’re not always going after the crypto millionaires themselves. Family members have become prime targets, with several high-profile cases involving the kidnapping of fathers and children of wealthy crypto entrepreneurs. The wife of a Belgian crypto millionaire became another victim when she was quickly rescued from her captors in December.
The violence is medieval. Fingers getting chopped off. Masked men with guns. Days of captivity. The ransom demands? Anywhere from $1 million to $12 million, paid in cryptocurrency, of course. WonderFi CEO Dean Skurka learned this the hard way when he had to cough up $1 million Canadian dollars for his freedom.
Law enforcement isn’t sitting idle. French police have racked up some wins, including the arrest of nine suspects in the Ledger co-founder case and seven more after freeing a crypto millionaire’s father. But these crimes are spreading across borders, hitting Spain, Belgium, and beyond.
The industry is finally waking up to this brutal reality. AnchorWatch now offers Bitcoin insurance policies against “wrench attacks” – because apparently, that’s where we are now. Coverage goes up to $100 million for stolen crypto, which seems necessary given the current climate.
Jameson Lopp, who started tracking these attacks after his own extortion experience in 2017, has documented 21 crypto-related attacks in just the first five months of 2025. At this rate, 2025 will easily surpass the 32 cases recorded in 2024.
The message is clear: in the crypto world, your digital fortune might just make you – or your loved ones – a target in the physical one.
