French crypto leaders intensify security after violent kidnappings

A man, beaten and sprinkled in gasoline, was found in the trunk of a car. A couple was removed before dawn of their country house and accelerated in separate places. A woman was attacked in broad daylight in a street in Paris by men trying to drag her in a van.

In the past six months in France, these violent kidnappings which are launching in phase or attempted kidnappings, followed by rangish ransom requests, had a common thread: all the targeted people with the world of cryptocurrencies-in most cases, members of the crypto-entrepreneurs or influencers.

While the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies has prompted criminals All over the world – including in the United States – The wave of recent attacks in France has shocked a lot by their cheeky, their brutality and their nature of copy. In two cases, the kidnappers cut the finger of a victim to scare families and colleagues to pay millions of euros in ransom, the authorities said – and in one of these cases, they threatened to unravel the victim’s knee, according to the Minister of the Interior of France.

The kidnappings were finally thwarted by the police or passers -by. Paris police said 24 people were placed in police custody on Monday and Tuesday as part of the attempted kidnapping of a cryptocurrency entrepreneur in Paris, who was captured in a disturbing video.

While the alarm spreads in the emerging cryptographic industry of France, the major players say that the new European cryptocurrency regulations can give hackers access to sensitive personal data to follow their targets. They push the government to make the rules safer – and to intensify their own personal security.

“Everyone thinks of who is the next one,” said Owen Simonin, an influencer and a French entrepreneur specializing in cryptocurrency who was surprised in 2022 when a man Arrived at his door with a pistol And asked for money.