At least 1 Bitcoiner gets kidnapped every week — Crypto exec

Alena Vranova, founder of SatoshiLabs, warned of the increase in wrench attacks, physical assaults and abductions carried out against BitcoinBTC$119,186BitcoinChange (24h)2.22%Market Cap$2.37TVolume (24h)$35.36BView Moreand crypto holders in an attempt to steal their private keys.

“Every week, there is a Bitcoiner, at least one in the world, who gets kidnapped, tortured, extorted, and sometimes even worse,” Vranovatoldthe audience at the Baltic Honeybadger 2025 conference in Riga, Latvia.

She warned that even small crypto investors can be on the radar of violent criminals looking for a target. She added:

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The rise inwrench attacks against crypto holdersis a disturbing trend, with physical attacks against Bitcoiners in 2025 on track todouble the worst year on record, promptingpersonal safety countermeasuresfrom investors, developers, and industry executives.

Related:Wrench attacks drive crypto investors to centralized custodians

Centralized data leaks magnify the wrench attack threat

Data leaks from centralized crypto exchanges, which collect sensitive user information underknow-your-customer(KYC) requirements, and other centralized software providers who collect client data, allow violent criminals to target crypto holders and their families.

“We currently have more than 80 million Bitcoiner and crypto user identities leaked online; 2.2 million out of those contain home addresses,” Vranova said.

These attacks are correlated with Bitcoin prices, and the frequency of the attacks rises during bull markets, she added.

In May, crypto exchange Coinbase disclosed a data breach thatleaked the informationof a small subset of Coinbase customers, which included home addresses and other identifying information.

In June, areportfrom Cybernews uncovered databases containing more than 16 billion leaked user login credentials from platforms like Apple, Facebook, and Google.

The password leaknegatively impacts crypto holders, who will now be subject to increased phishing, social engineering, hacking, identity theft, and other types of targeted scams designed to steal user data and funds.

Magazine:Bitcoiner sex trap extortion? BTS firm’s blockchain disaster: Asia Express

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