In a disturbing incident on Tuesday morning, four masked men attacked the daughter of a prominent figure in France’s cryptocurrency sector, along with her partner and their child, in Paris’s 11th district. This incident is just the latest in a string of violent attacks against people working in the fast-paced and still-evolving crypto space.
The attackers, heavily armed and thuggish, had jumped out of a white van displaying the colors and insignia of Chronopost, one of France’s leading delivery services. The vehicle in question did not have compliant markings, making its authenticity dubious at best. Eyewitnesses said the attackers violently dragged the young woman as part of their assault. In the process, her partner suffered terrible facial trauma. The five-months-pregnant victim was treated for shock after the brutal ordeal.
This most recent attack continues a very disturbing pattern of violent assaults against crypto individuals in France. Federal authorities have recently reported a trend, which includes the abductions of others connected to the industry. On May 1, ransom-seeking kidnappers kidnapped the father of a famous cryptocurrency businessperson in Paris’s 14th district. They kidnapped him and held him for ransom. The kidnappers initially requested a whopping €10 million ($11.2 million) ransom in cryptocurrency. Fortunately, nearly all the ransom money was able to be tracked down, frozen, and seized by law enforcement.
This spring, David Balland, a co-founder of the French crypto-currency Ledger, suffered a million dollars in injuries. He and his wife were forcibly abducted from their residence in central France. This increase in threats against individuals in the cryptocurrency space has, understandably, raised the ire of industry leaders. We government officials have this concern, too.
Just last week, France’s Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau was trumpeting plans to meet with cryptocurrency entrepreneurs. This follows a wave of increasing violence and the intention is to address additional security measures. This legislation would serve as a necessary step to ensure that members working in this vital sector are best protected,” Huerta said.
“We must immediately adopt measures to reinforce the protection of collaborators of companies in the cryptocurrency ecosystem.” – Paymium
The Paris prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation into this latest incident. They are focusing on crimes like intrusion into home or private domicile or attempted arrest, abduction, kidnapping or arbitrary detention carried out by an organized gang. The investigation will look at aggravated patterns of violence and involvement in a criminal enterprise.
The attack on Tuesday raises the stakes for crypto users like Michal, in an industry where piracy and personal danger has become the norm. It further surfaces critical security considerations in an industry that has seen rapid expansion and innovation in recent years. Regulatory frameworks have been changing quickly, with more people entering the digital currency space every day. As a direct result, the potential for criminal activity is becoming a much clearer reality.
Law enforcement is currently investigating whether this attack was camouflaged as a known brand. At the same time, public safety officials are struggling to figure out why we’ve seen so many of these violent attacks in recent weeks. The use of vehicles marked with a recognizable company logo adds another layer of complexity to ongoing investigations into these violent acts.
