Crypto-Related Physical Attacks Surge 169% in Six Months - Here’s What You Need to Know
Digital wealth meets real-world danger as physical crypto attacks skyrocket.
Security Breach Epidemic
Criminals aren't just hacking wallets anymore—they're targeting holders directly. Home invasions, street muggings, and coordinated heists surge as bad actors bypass digital security by going straight for the person.
The New Attack Vectors
From SIM-swapping gangs to old-fashioned coercion, attackers blend cyber tactics with physical threats. They don't need to crack your cold storage when they can just demand your seed phrase at gunpoint.
Market Correlation Chaos
Ironically, this surge in physical crime coincides with another bull run—proving once again that in crypto, even security threats follow the price charts. Because nothing says 'financial revolution' like needing a bodyguard to check your portfolio.
Stay safe out there—the streets are watching your blockchain movements closer than the SEC.
Crypto-Related Attacks in 2025 Already Up 33% from Last Year
In total, 48 attacks have occurred so far in 2025, marking a 33% increase over all of 2024. France alone has accounted for 14 of this year’s reported incidents.
Victims range from retail holders and traders to crypto executives, highlighting the broad scope of the threat.
One of the most disturbing cases took place on September 6 in Cambridge, Canada, where a young man was abducted at gunpoint and forced to transfer funds into a cryptocurrency wallet.
“He was compelled to deposit a large amount of money into a cryptocurrency account,” said Waterloo Regional Police officer Chris Iden.
While the victim sustained non-life-threatening injuries, the suspects, described as four Black males in a dark-colored van, remain unidentified.
Speaking in a recent interview, Lopp emphasized that security is a moving target for digital asset holders. “The security landscape is constantly changing,” he said.
“It is just an aspect of the ecosystem that any prudent investor should stay on top of, since this asset class is highly unforgiving of mistakes.”
Lopp believes Bitcoin’s rising value is a double-edged sword. “It is more valuable, hence there are more felons pursuing to take it away from you,” he said.
But improvements in self-custody tools and best practices have also advanced significantly. “We have greatly improved our security best practices over the years to counteract the savvier attackers,” he added.
He noted that ETFs can be a safer alternative for those who simply want price exposure.
“You trade off things like social engineering risk and poor key management risk for the risk that the custodian may fall victim to such attacks or losses,” Lopp explained.
Stay Safe: Avoid Flaunting Crypto Holdings, Report Advises
To help users stay safe, the author of the report offered some straightforward advice: Don’t be ‘the bitcoin guy’ in your community.
Avoid publicizing holdings, especially on social media. Self-custody users should invest time in understanding security basics like seed phrase protection, passphrases, and using multisig wallets with geographically separated signing devices.
Other tips include avoiding overly complex storage systems that might become inaccessible even to the owner and considering a balance between self-custody and delegated custody depending on individual risk profiles.
France has become a hotspot for these crimes, with 14 out of 50 global wrench attacks recorded there over the past year.
Moroccan police in June arrested a suspect accused of kidnapping crypto executives.
In France, the father of a crypto millionaire was brutally attacked. And in New York, a tourist was tortured for over two weeks as kidnappers tried to extract his Bitcoin credentials.
