France hit by 10th crypto ‘wrench attack’ of 2025 as kidnappers target 23-year-old near Paris

Another crypto-related kidnapping has been reported in France, marking the 10th known “wrench attack” in the country so far this year, according to Le Parisien and data tracked by longtime cypherpunk Jameson Lopp, who has tracked and recorded these events in an open database for nearly a decade. 

The incident occurred on Tuesday in Maisons-Alfort, a suburb southeast of Paris. Le Parisien reported that a 23-year-old man was abducted while running errands and was forced to call his partner, instructing her to place a Ledger hardware wallet containing a private key, along with €5,000 in cash, into a bag for the attackers.

“Violence was used to make him talk,” an unnamed source quoted by Le Parisien said. The victim, who is as yet unidentified, was released in the neighboring town of Créteil after the crypto and cash had been collected. 

At least 32 so-called wrench attacks have occurred worldwide in 2025, with nearly a third of the known assaults happening in France, according to Lopp’s data. This year is on track to be the most violent year yet for crypto holders, with the highest number of known attacks, 36, happening in 2021. University of Cambridge researchers estimate that many such assaults go unreported.

In May, shortly after the failed extortion attempt against Paymium CEO Pierre Noizat’s relatives, French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said that he would meet with crypto industry leaders in the country to discuss their safety concerns. Perhaps the highest profile attack in France was the kidnapping and torture of Ledger co-founder David Balland and his wife in January. 

Earlier this month, two men — John Woeltz, 37, and William Duplessie, 33 — were indicted on kidnapping, assault, and coercion charges after torturing a 28-year-old Italian crypto entrepreneur in an eight-bedroom New York City townhouse.

Wrench attacks typically increase during or shortly after bull markets, according to the data. For instance, there were only eight known assaults in 2019, one of the worst-performing years for crypto tokens in recent memory.

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