The founding father of SatoshiLabs, Alena Vranova, shared that assaults on individuals who maintain Bitcoin
$120,254.99
or different cryptocurrencies have gotten extra widespread.
Talking on the Baltic Honeybadger 2025 occasion in Riga, she defined that criminals are utilizing violence to power victims to surrender their pockets keys, and it’s taking place recurrently.
Vranova stated, “Each week, there’s a Bitcoiner, at the very least one on the planet, who will get kidnapped, tortured, extorted, and generally even worse”.
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She famous that the issue just isn’t restricted to rich or early Bitcoin traders. Even individuals with smaller holdings have been focused. Some kidnappings have been over as little as $6,000 in crypto, and there have been murders linked to quantities round $50,000.
Vranova stated 2025 is on observe to see extra bodily assaults on Bitcoin holders than any earlier 12 months. This rise has pushed merchants, builders, and firm executives to be extra cautious about their private security.
One cause for the rise is the big quantity of private info that has been leaked from centralized crypto exchanges and different companies.
These firms accumulate person information, together with identification paperwork and residential addresses, for verification functions. If this info is leaked, it could assist criminals discover and goal victims.
Vranova stated:
We at present have greater than 80 million Bitcoiner and crypto person identities leaked on-line; 2.2 million out of these comprise residence addresses.
On August 2, Arkham Intelligence reported that it had recognized a Bitcoin theft that went unnoticed for years. What did the blockchain analyst agency say? Learn the total story.