Crypto-Related Physical Attacks Surge 169% in Six Months
Physical assaults focusing on Bitcoin and crypto holders are rising at an alarming charge, in keeping with new information tracked by CASA co-founder Jameson Lopp.
Key Takeaways:
- Crypto-related bodily assaults have surged 169% since February, with 48 incidents reported in 2025 up to now.
- Victims embody on a regular basis holders and executives, as rising Bitcoin costs make them high-value targets.
- Security consultants warn that whereas threats are rising, self-custody instruments and greatest practices have additionally considerably improved.
Since late February, 35 new violent incidents have been reported globally, a 169% enhance in simply six and a half months, in accordance to a report by Forbes.
The uptick provides to an already troubling pattern, as cryptocurrency markets proceed their bullish run.
In whole, 48 assaults have occurred up to now in 2025, marking a 33% enhance over all of 2024. France alone has accounted for 14 of this yr’s reported incidents.
Victims vary from retail holders and merchants to crypto executives, highlighting the broad scope of the menace.
One of essentially the most disturbing circumstances came about on September 6 in Cambridge, Canada, the place a younger man was kidnapped at gunpoint and compelled to switch funds right into a cryptocurrency pockets.
“He was compelled to deposit a big amount of cash right into a cryptocurrency account,” mentioned Waterloo Regional Police officer Chris Iden.
While the sufferer sustained non-life-threatening accidents, the suspects, described as 4 Black males in a dark-colored van, stay unidentified.
Speaking in a current interview, Lopp emphasised that safety is a transferring goal for digital asset holders. “The safety panorama is consistently altering,” he mentioned.
Wrench assault safety must be a part of your opsec https://t.co/PoTbPDabov pic.twitter.com/6GhVAKVWqw
— ⟠Palis⟠
(@palis) August 6, 2025
“It is simply a facet of the ecosystem that any prudent investor ought to keep on high of, since this asset class is extremely unforgiving of errors.”
Lopp believes Bitcoin’s rising worth is a double-edged sword. “It is extra priceless, therefore there are extra felons pursuing to take it away from you,” he mentioned.
But enhancements in self-custody instruments and greatest practices have additionally superior considerably. “We have enormously improved our safety greatest practices over time to counteract the savvier attackers,” he added.
He famous that ETFs generally is a safer various for individuals who merely need value publicity.
“You commerce off issues like social engineering danger and poor key administration danger for the danger that the custodian could fall sufferer to such assaults or losses,” Lopp defined.
Stay Safe: Avoid Flaunting Crypto Holdings, Report Advises
To assist customers keep protected, the writer of the report supplied some simple recommendation: Don’t be ‘the Bitcoin man’ in your neighborhood.
Avoid publicizing holdings, particularly on social media. Self-custody customers ought to make investments time in understanding safety fundamentals like seed phrase safety, passphrases, and utilizing multisig wallets with geographically separated signing units.
Other suggestions embody avoiding overly advanced storage techniques that may change into inaccessible even to the proprietor and contemplating a stability between self-custody and delegated custody relying on particular person danger profiles.
France has change into a hotspot for these crimes, with 14 out of fifty world wrench assaults recorded there over the previous yr.
Moroccan police in June arrested a suspect accused of kidnapping crypto executives.
In France, the daddy of a crypto millionaire was brutally attacked. And in New York, a vacationer was tortured for over two weeks as kidnappers tried to extract his Bitcoin credentials.
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