Crypto entrepreneurs and their households in France will obtain enhanced safety measures amid a latest rise in crypto-related kidnappings within the nation, Politico reported.
According to the Might 16 report, the measures embrace precedence entry to police emergency traces, house safety assessments, and security briefings from French regulation enforcement to make sure finest practices are being adopted.
France’s Inside Minister Bruno Retailleau launched the safety measures as a part of a broader effort to counter the recent wave of attacks.
“These repeated kidnappings of execs within the crypto sector shall be fought with particular instruments, each quick and short-term, to forestall, dissuade and hinder with a purpose to defend the business.”
Legislation enforcement officers will even bear “anti-crypto asset laundering coaching,” Retailleau famous.
Retailleau met with a number of native leaders from the crypto business to debate the measures following three crypto-related kidnapping incidents in latest months.
Two kidnappings and a failed try in France this yr
The newest incident occurred on Might 13, when assailants attempted to abduct the daughter and grandson of Pierre Noizat, CEO of the French crypto platform Paymium. Happily, they managed to fend off the assault, which occurred in broad daylight.
The assailants tried to drive the pair right into a ready van, however Noizat’s daughter managed to take one of many weapons off an assailant and throw it away, native police mentioned.
En plein Paris, un homme a été violenté par des individus cagoulés, habillés tout en noir. Ils tentaient de l’enlever. Un homme a surgi, extincteur à la major, pour les faire fuir. →https://t.co/P0qV6PR40v pic.twitter.com/9f4r2Gi7ho
— Le Figaro (@Le_Figaro) May 13, 2025
On Might 3, Paris police freed the father of a crypto entrepreneur who was held for a number of days in reference to a 7 million euros ($7.8 million) kidnapping plot.
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In January, the co-founder of crypto hardware wallet provider Ledger, David Balland, was abducted from his home in central France through the early hours of Jan. 21. He was held captive till a police operation on the night time of Jan. 22 secured his launch.
Retailleau said earlier this week that he believes the incidents have been possible related.
There have been over 150 crypto-related theft or kidnapping incidents since 2014, with 23 of these incidents occurring in 2025 alone, according to a GitHub database maintained by Bitcoin cypherpunk Jameson Lopp.
Lopp noted many of those criminals usually determine future victims by means of social media posts, public conversations, meetups, and conferences.
He strongly advises towards peer-to-peer trades — notably with individuals you don’t belief — flaunting wealth on social media and carrying crypto-branded clothes.
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