Armed intruders force French family to transfer $820,000 in crypto: report

Two hooded men with a firearm extorted approximately €700,000 ($820,000) in digital assets from a family in northwest France on Monday, marking the latest incident in a wave of physical coercion crimes targeting cryptocurrency holders in the country.

The incident occurred in Ploudalmézeau, inside a home occupied by a mother, her two young children, and two grandparents, according to reporting by local news outlet Le Télégramme.

The three adults were bound and forced onto the floor for more than three hours while the assailants demanded access to the family’s cryptocurrency holdings, the report said, noting that the mother eventually complied and transferred the funds. 

Per the report, the gunmen fled after a neighbor intervened, driving away in a vehicle taken from the family. Police found the vehicle abandoned in Brest later that evening.

While the Rennes gendarmerie research unit has opened an investigation into the incident, no arrests have been reported, according to the newspaper.

Crypto-linked home invasions climb in France

The Ploudalmézeau case comes as crypto-related kidnappings and abductions have accelerated in France over the past two years.

French judicial police have recorded more than 40 kidnappings and abductions linked to cryptocurrencies since January, Le Télégramme reported earlier this month. This figure exceeds the approximately 30 cases documented in 2025.

On Wednesday, blockchain investigator ZachXBT said he assisted in an investigation tied to a late-2023 kidnapping involving French streamer TeufeurS, where attackers abducted a family member and demanded a ransom. He said he worked with the security team at Binance to freeze about $800,000 in funds after roughly $2 million had been paid, and noted that six suspects were later arrested.

Among the latest cases is a March incident where a couple in their late fifties in the outskirts of Paris was forced during a home invasion to transfer about €900,000 ($1 million) in bitcoin to attackers who posed as police officers before fleeing. 

A month earlier, on Feb. 12, three armed suspects attempted a home invasion targeting Binance France head David Princay. The suspects searched two locations for the executive before fleeing with two mobile phones. Police traced the stolen phones and arrested the three at Lyon Perrache station later that day.

French authorities have also arrested six suspects in connection with the attempted kidnapping of a magistrate and her mother, during which captors allegedly demanded a cryptocurrency ransom and threatened physical mutilation. 

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