In the early morning of January 21, David Balland and his wife were forced under shot in individual vehicles outside their house in Méreau, a municipality in the lush Loire -Valley, France. The kidnappers had focused on Balland, who co -founded the cryptocurrency wallet company Ledger, with the aim of winning a ransom, a public prosecutor claimed.
The kidnappers communicated their requirements – the details of which were not announced by the law enforcement – to Éric Larchevêque, another ledger – also – founder. To rinse the full payment, they have cut off one of Balland's fingers. French authorities sent more than 200 officers to investigate.
On January 22, officers saved Balland from a house in the neighboring city of Châteauoux. They later discovered his wife – struck but unharmed – in the back of a beaten van.
These events were passed on by Paris officer of Justice Laure Beccuau at a press conference on January 23 and in subsequent reports. The authorities had arrested 10 people who suspected that they were connected to the kidnapping, Beccuau announced. For acts of 'torture, barbarism and extortion', she said, those who have arrested for life in prison when they are convicted.
Ledger refused to comment, referring to the current examination and the need to pay privacy to Balland. In an X -post, Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier wrote: “We are deeply relieved that David and his wife have been released.”
The creepy kidnapping – which shortly after a crypto director was held for Ransom in Canada and the murder of the CEO of the United Healthcare – made the crypto industry. To protect themselves, rich crypto figures turn to Bodyguard services, which have experienced an influx of requests, sources with knowledge of the physical security sector Tell Wired.
“Just like every human emotion, fear is an important motivator … The headlines certainly mobilize a lot of that care,” says Adam Healy, a former American navy and chief executive at crypto-oriented cyber security Company Station 70, which often helps through the industry to protect to secure to protect to protect to protect physical security services. “The question has grown considerably.”
Because not any case of kidnapping or extortion is reported, it is difficult to objectively assess the actual risk for rich figures in crypto. By making the fear of kidnapping more acute, the headlines benefit the private security companies, encouraged to overestimate the threat.
However, it is the case that people who control large quantities of crypto are more exposed to violent extortion than the typical director by the nature of the technology: in contrast to regular currency, crypto is stored in digital portfolios that are only protected by alphanumeric keys. Because crypto transactions are irreversible, if a bad actor can force someone to transfer his key, they get unobstructed access to the coins in their wallets.
“That is one of the principles on which crypto was founded the principle of self-coasts. Not your keys, not your crypto, ”says a crypto director who previously used Bodyguard protection, who asked to remain anonymous for personal safety reasons. “It is the equivalent of filling [your money in] Your mattress. “
In the course of time, crypto organizations have taken steps to dilute the risk of self-herb, also by storing coins in special portfolios that require the signing of several people for any transactions. Sometimes they go so far that they split portfolios in different shards, each of which can be stored all over the world in a separate bunker with high security. But even extensive measures only go so far when discouraging kidnapping and attempted extortion.
