TechFlow News, May 24: According to a Cointelegraph report, Bitcoin journalist Joe Nakamoto stated that approximately 70% of global “wrench attacks”—violent kidnappings targeting cryptocurrency holders and their families—have occurred in France. As of 2026, France has recorded 41 cryptocurrency-related kidnappings, averaging one every two and a half days.
Nakamoto attributes this trend to the centralized storage of KYC (“Know Your Customer”) data. In Ledger’s 2020 hardware wallet data breach, over 270,000 users’ personal identities, home addresses, and email addresses were exposed, providing criminals with precise targets for attack. Jameson Lopp, CEO of Casa, remarked, “France is the canary in the coal mine, revealing how financial regulatory surveillance systems directly harm Bitcoin holders.”
In response to such threats, industry experts recommend that holders use custodial services equipped with security features capable of triggering asset freezes and notifying law enforcement upon attack. They also advise preparing a “decoy” wallet containing a small amount of funds and maintaining a low public profile to avoid disclosing cryptocurrency holdings.
