French crypto kidnappings rise to 77, prompting new safeguards

Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez reported 77 cases so far this year, compared with 45 in 2025. He reported 200 arrests linked to incidents or preventive operations and 724 crypto-sector participants enrolled on immediate-identification platforms. “We have recorded 77 cases this year,” Nuñez reported.

The Interior Ministry outlined measures including reinforced intelligence sharing, a formal expert network through ADAN linking state agents and sector specialists, and closer operational cooperation with foreign law enforcement where organizers may be based. Immediate-identification platforms are intended to help emergency services recognize registered high-risk individuals more quickly.

Authorities identify founders, executives, employees, public investors and high-profile holders as primary targets. Investigators say attackers often use company filings, social media, travel patterns, leaked customer records and public appearances to locate and pressure people who can authorize transfers.

Hardware wallets, multisignature setups and withdrawal controls reduce the risk of remote theft but do not prevent criminals who detain or coerce authorized signers. The ministry has discussed priority emergency access, home-security audits for exposed people, briefings by elite units including GIGN, RAID and BRI, and a dedicated cybercrime contact point. An ADAN-linked working group will coordinate industry and law-enforcement responses.

The kidnapping of Ledger co-founder David Balland prompted a multi-agency response involving judicial organized-crime coordination, a GIGN deployment, cyber specialists to trace on-chain movements and freeze funds, and more than 230 gendarmes.

Security firms reported a rise in violent incidents tied to crypto holdings worldwide, citing 72 verified physical coercion cases in 2025 and increases in kidnapping and assault compared with 2024. A 2025 decree lets company officers and indefinitely liable partners request that home addresses be withheld from company registry filings. Authorities describe the registration system and arrests as actions meant to disrupt networks and provide faster, coordinated responses when threats emerge.