The past months have seen a wave of violent attacks carried out in France against high-profile crypto execs and their relatives that have left the sector in shock.
Earlier this week, four men unsuccessfully attempted to abduct a woman and her young child in central Paris, who were later reported to be the daughter and grandchild of the CEO of cryptocurrency exchange platform Paymium.
The men fled after a violent struggle. In a statement published the next day on social media, Paymium declined to comment on the case but said an investigation has been opened.
“All of Paymium’s employees, like every person working in the cryptocurrency sector today in France, have been particularly affected by the attempted abduction that happened […] in the heart of Paris, which follows a series of similar events,” reads the statement.
Now the crypto community is calling on the French authorities to ramp up measures to protect at-risk entrepreneurs.
A series of attacks
Just two weeks ago, the father of a crypto entrepreneur was abducted from central Paris and his son asked for a multi-million-euro ransom. He was released a few days later by the French police, but reports state that one of his fingers had been chopped off.
In January, the cofounder of French unicorn Ledger David Balland and his partner were abducted and held to ransom in central France. Both were released after a few days, with Balland also suffering a severed finger.
“For the past few months, sordid cases of abduction and abduction attempts have multiplied,” Eric Larchevêque, who cofounded Ledger with Balland, wrote on X this week. “These criminals have no limits, no morals, no fear.”
“Today, succeeding in France, whether in cryptoassets or elsewhere, is like pinning a target on your back.”
Cryptocurrencies have seen a resurgence in the past few months. Demand for Bitcoin surged last year in the wake of the US election, leading the cryptocurrency to hit $100k for the first time. In March, Abu Dhabi-based investor MGX made a record $2bn investment in cryptocurrency exchange platform Binance.
Sébastien Martin, cofounder of Raid Square, a Paris-based company specialising in cybersecurity for cryptoassets, says that crypto bosses are fast becoming prime targets for attack.
“The crypto ecosystem has matured significantly and reached a critical size,” Martin tells Sifted. “Criminals have clocked that there are now victims they can target.”
But crypto funds are not as easy to steal as some criminals might believe. “Attackers bet on a casino effect where they’ll be able to retrieve millions immediately,” says Martin. “This is disconnected from the technical realities of the ecosystem.”
In the case of Balland’s abduction in January, part of the ransom was paid to the criminals during the negotiations to free the victims — but the police were later able to trace back, freeze and seize almost all of the cryptocurrencies.
What’s next?
Martin says that the situation is preoccupying” and that stopping it will require a “massive and global” response from the government.
Ledger cofounder Larchevêque said on X that the repeated attacks could lead some founders to leave the country.
“How many entrepreneurs, how much talent, are seriously thinking about leaving a country that doesn’t protect them? How many have gone already, in silence, out of weariness, fear or resignation?” he wrote.
Speaking on French television on Thursday, France’s interior minister Bruno Retailleau pledged to meet with crypto entrepreneurs this week to “work on their security” and raise their “awareness of risks”. The meeting is scheduled for Friday morning.
Protecting privacy
Many observers have called for more privacy-preserving measures to protect entrepreneurs.
Ledger’s Larchevêque pointed out that founders’ addresses can often be easily traced online thanks to publicly-available company creation documents. “If you think you are not concerned, you are wrong,” he wrote. “It’s better to act before you become visible.”
Martin says it needs to be easier — and quicker — for an entrepreneur to request to remove their personal data from legal documents.
He adds that those with significant crypto assets should pay extra attention to their digital footprint. “For a long time some people would post plenty of content on social media, showing Dom Perignon champagne bottles, taking pictures of their crypto wallets,” he says. “This in effect exposes them considerably.”
Critics have also raised concerns at the so-called “travel rule” — a piece of EU legislation that recently came into effect and requires crypto companies to collect and share personal data about their users to fight money laundering and fraud.
Martin says that this is causing mounting fears of data leaks. “There is a strong risk that there will be issues if regulated players are not supported when it comes to the cybersecurity implications of these new obligations,” he says.
In its statement, Paymium called for a pause to the travel rule. “The public authorities are physically endangering the millions of owners of cryptocurrencies in France and in Europe, as data leaks and cyber attacks grow in intensity,” it said.
Read the orginal article: https://sifted.eu/articles/france-crypto-attacks/
