<\/p>\n
France has logged 41 crypto-linked kidnappings in 2026, prompting Interior Ministry plans for tougher measures after the country became Europe\u2019s hotspot for \u201cwrench attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n
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French Interior Ministry representative Jean\u2011Didier Berger says France will introduce new measures \u201cin the coming weeks\u201d to deal with a wave of crypto\u2011linked kidnappings that has made the country an epicenter of what police now call \u201cwrench attacks.\u201d Speaking at Paris Blockchain Week, Berger said authorities have already launched a prevention platform aimed at digital asset holders and attracted thousands of registrations, framing the next step as a tighter, more coordinated law\u2011enforcement response.<\/p>\n
So far in 2026, officials have counted 41 kidnapping cases tied to cryptocurrency in France, an average of roughly one every 2.5 days, according to figures cited by Berger and local media. In 2025, global incidents of such ransom attacks rose 75% year\u2011on\u2011year, with France the worst\u2011hit country worldwide and accounting for about 40% of all cases recorded in Europe.<\/p>\n
Berger said he is working with Interior Minister Laurent Nu\u00f1ez on a \u201cmore stringent response plan\u201d that will be deployed shortly, following internal warnings that the threat has evolved from insider disputes to systematic targeting of wealthy individuals and their families. A January memo from France\u2019s organized crime agency SIRASCO, reported by Le Parisien, described roughly 40 crypto kidnappings and hostage\u2011takings between mid\u20112023 and end\u20112025, mostly in urban areas around Paris.<\/p>\n
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Recent cases underline the escalation. In April, GIGN commandos rescued a mother and 10\u2011year\u2011old son held for about 20 hours as kidnappers tried to extort \u201cseveral hundreds of thousands\u201d of euros from the father, a crypto entrepreneur. Earlier this year, a magistrate linked to a Lyon\u2011based crypto executive and her elderly mother were held for 30 hours in a ransom plot before six suspects were arrested, including a minor.<\/p>\n
Industry and security researchers say self\u2011custody has become a physical risk factor in France\u2019s crypto scene, pushing some executives toward bodyguards and home security checks. TRM Labs and CertiK data cited by outlets such as Forbes show France logged 19 of 72 verified wrench attacks globally in a recent period, more than twice the tally in the United States, with at least 30 documented cases since 2017 and over 20 in 2025 alone.<\/p>\n
For a government that has marketed Paris as a crypto and fintech hub under clear rules and MiCA\u2011aligned licensing, the surge in kidnappings now threatens to become a reputational and capital\u2011flight problem. As one CryptoSlate report put it, France is \u201cwhere crypto wealth looks hardest to hold safely in public,\u201d a perception Berger and Nu\u00f1ez will now have to fight through prevention, rapid\u2011response policing and closer cooperation with an industry suddenly focused as much on physical safety as on private keys.<\/p>\n
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France has logged 41 crypto-linked kidnappings in 2026, prompting Interior Ministry plans for tougher measures after the country became Europe\u2019s hotspot for \u201cwrench attacks.\u201d Summary France\u2019s Interior Ministry will roll…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":243,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26085","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26085","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26085"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26085\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26086,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26085\/revisions\/26086"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26085"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26085"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26085"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}