Bitcoin Forum

There have been several high-profile kidnappings of crypto executives or their relatives in France, showing there is now a pattern of organized criminals targeting those thought to possess cryptocurrencies. While other countries have had similar incidents, for now France appears to have taken the lead in some of the boldest attacks. Recently, two relatives (a mother and child) of a crypto exchange CEO endured a bold kidnapping attempt in broad daylight in Paris.

So what can France and other countries do to stem the tide of such attacks? If this is not brought under control, this potentially may drive away everyday people who will have to fear a kidnapping attempt if they hold Bitcoin. These attacks should thus be understood as terrorism being committed against bitcoiners and their families.

Source: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250514-france-summons-cryptocurrency-businesses-after-kidnappings

If criminals were scared of the laws they would have abstained from their evil deeds. No matter what punishment the authorities place on ground for such acts, I don't think it would stop someone who already has purely evil intentions. The rate of kidnapping crypto holder is now getting out of hand. It's no longer a new thing and everyweek we get news about such.

 This then push the motion, are crypto holders still not aware of what is going on? Or they just don't care and since they have the money to pay off these guys they choose to pay deaf ears. As a crypto holder, your privacy should be taken seriously. If these kidnapping is not taken seriously by the government, it might later on result to something much worse like killing. I hope the government works fast on something to help stop and it's also on the hands of the holders to remain quit of their holdings.

There is already a discussion thread on the kidnapping of a france CEO daughter and the son, I think it was an unsuccessful kidnapping attempt that left the victims injured and now receiving treatment in an hospital, security crisis is at high rate and we need to be more careful, most targeted lately are not only high profile individuals, but even aged people too are getting kidnapped for ransom.

_act_  has been updating this platform with information as it relates to activities in crypto safety when it comes to security and happenings to crypto enthusiasts all around the world, but of late, France has been in the headlines for their crime scheme on crypto enthusiasts and it is quite worrisome that the attacks keep increasing daily without a proper solution to this menace in France. This is now an eye-opener of what is to come if the crypto community does not take their safety seriously.

So far, the reports have been on attacks as it relates to influencers, CEOs of exchange, etc, which shows that the act is coordinated and preplanned and they are in the know of their whereabouts to easily attack them and steal from them so the question everybody would ask is that who is leaking their information to all these criminals to launch an attack on them.

On the other hand, I am curious to ask this to the general house, do you think it is safe to use the local exchange where you are well known in that locality? because I feel this is another threat on its own.

If you want to be fairly secure as a bitcoiners you'll have to operate within the boundaries of Bitcoin principles:
* Don't let the public or people you don't trust (trustless) know you own bitcoins unless you are sure of your security.
* Better to hold and use Bitcoin anonymously as the Bitcoin ledger is transparent, or people can easily view how much is in your Bitcoin address and your address activities. If the addresses are not linked to owners true identities, it will be hard to know who they belong to and the owners wont be victims of Bitcoin thieves.
* One more important thing,  if you have lots of bitcoins, try to split them into multiple parts or send them to multiple addresses so that if you are unfortunate with Bitcoin thieves you could only give them a secret keys to one address and other bitcoins will be spared. .

If it's about being scared of the law they are scared and that's why they nocturnally carry out these criminal acts making sure the authorities don't caught up with them in the very act. I don't know if I should say it's a common occurrence in every society today where the less privileged targets the highly privileged as a means to use to climb to the echelon. It just can entirely be ended but the authority can only try to limit it prevalence.

Here is the link to the thread and it's on beginners and help section of the Forum:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5543371.0


Most times when such incidents happens, we tend to get carried away into believing that such incidents occurred because of they individual societal class and level, forgetting that there have been an increasingly high crime rate around the world lately, and kidnapping is one the most popular crime that both high profile and low profile re most targeted.

Let me guess. The kidnappers are gangs from Africa.

France is one of the countries in the EU that took the most migrants back when the left thought it was a good idea. So ethical, so full of sympathy towards the people who leave their countries to seek welfare checks in the North. Now France is suffering from homelessness and high crime rates and doesn't know what to do with all those people from Senegal Cameroon and so on that fill up their prisons.

This thread should be locked as it is a duplicate of the other one made by another user.
My comments on this too everyone should stay anonymous as long as you can. This goes as far as being as discreet as possible online and offline.
Countries also need to strengthen their security so that these type.of attacks can be crushed before it is even carried out.
There's a whole website decided to keeping records of these attacks. When you go through it , the people responsible for this are not immigrants but also locals. Bad people will always be bad people.

Sometimes, users that create this kind of thread are carried away with the Chuck of the incident, and once they create such thread they go offline for so long not responding, I guess a few of us have reported the thread, but moderators haven't visited yet to lock the thread and the ops have not been active on this thread either.

I'm here. My angle here is more about the policy that can be implemented to reduce such attacks. Given the prevalence of such attacks all of a sudden, some attention is needed. I don't see why there should only be one thread on such an important topic, but if the mods feel it should be so, I am OK with it. Also, I believe that if a person is against a particular thread being made, the best response is no response, similar to dealing with trolls. Lately I have noticed complaints about threads that, again, are simply kicked up due to the complaints. I find this weird because even complaining about something is time-consuming, when the nature of time itself is finite.*

Anyway, I hope French authorities will take such incidents more seriously, because this may have the effect of scaring away crypto businesses from the country.



*To elaborate a bit on the concept: complaining about a supposedly trifling matter simply creates more trifling matter, potentially exponentially. Thus, in most cases, the expression of disagreement with the creation of a thread is redundant and an infraction similar to what one is supposedly complaining about. However, if this were maliciously done by a spammer, it would be an entirely different matter.

I would not name a specific country, but I am also sure that all the crimes are committed by migrants whose lives did not turn out to be as fabulous as they hoped for when they moved to Europe. And yes, their level of knowledge, as well as laziness (since they wanted to receive benefits all their lives without working), does not tell them anything about morality and rules of conduct in a foreign country; moreover, their demands sometimes cross all boundaries of impudence. France should do with migrants like Trump: send them all to their historical homeland.

That's the link to the thread you have provided, and I also made a comment there. You did well by attaching it here for members to see and also read it.

Security is a personal matter, and as such, one should take one's safety very seriously and make it paramount in times as these. It is true that both the rich and poor are victims of kidnaping and it is very difficult to tell when such incident would occur. It is better to keep a low profile if one can and not disclose your crypto holdings or act like you do not do crypto for your safety and if you live around the environment where these crimes frequently happens, if you can relocate from there better but if you can't, stay away from too much sensitive gatherings as it relates to crypto and others to avoid being a target by kidnappers.

how could they take a more seruously it should be many happening but we are not aware of it man

Does anyone have thoughts about what France and other countries can do at a policy-level to reduce such attacks? Obviously, people should be more private with regard to their finances and hobbies. But what can governments do?  

I think the mods have let this thread continue because this topic is important. So to the small number of "thread-complainers": ignore this thread or contribute meaningfully by adding what, if anything, you think governments can do.

Again, what can governments do? This is not merely an issue for individuals to consider. It's a society-wide problem, too.

One of the biggest problems with the adoption of Bitcoin and crypto has got to be the lag in regulation, law and enforcement right now. Scams are everywhere, situations like this are only becoming more and more rampant, while governments and LE are lagging on investigations to track criminals down. On the other side, people are being completely oblivious to the dangers of flaunting their wealth, status and positions, leading to situations like this. While this is an extreme case, a generally good standard of privacy by the family might have prevented something like this.

There's this impression that the government can always control which ever situation they want to control unless they don't just pay close interest to it. This kidnapping cases getting out hand but if the government really takes it so serious, they can handled and cause the incident to reduce.


If the exchange is reputable, I mean they have a very high trust worthy profile, then it's not a bad idea for me to use it, unless they have had a case of hacks or leaked information before, that's only when I would avoid the exchange, because after they ask for KYC and carelessly allow users informations to be exposed, that means they could put users at risk because their information can get into the hands of those thieves. Another thing, cryptography users should be extremely careful in the exchange they perform KYC or better still avoid exchange that request for KYC.

One of the cons of having that decentralized and anonymity transactions on what Bitcoin do have, then it will be that totally eradicating the possibilities for them to get traced and thats why whenever these criminals do have the chance on knowing on whose been that dealing up with crypto then they would be that having that target. The bad thing on here is that even into those small-time holders will be that getting included as a target even if they arent that holding up that much. This is why on personal approach on things then its always been that recommended that you should be that making yourself that low-key when it comes into your crypto holdings. For those who do own big exchangers or any companies that involves crypto, then as a father/husband/family man, then you do know on what you should gonna do on which trying out to secure your family as much as you could even if it means on hiring up securities or bodyguards. We dont know ointo those people who are around on which they are just that observing and watching your move. For those who are just that ordinary people then it will be just that recommended that you shouldnt be that too flexing with your current holdings because you dont know on whose watching you. Its better to be safe than sorry or simply dont wait that there's something that do happen into your loved one sor even into yourself.

By now, we all should know that privacy is necessary and we should not expose all we do to other people that they begin to know our worth and the capacity in our portfolio, once they have done it to someone and see how profitable it is to kidnap and earn huge sum of money for doing less, they will continue and begin to hunt after other crypto users, but when we keep to our privacy, most of these bad actors will not know or have an idea of what we do or if we have bitcoin or not, lets not be the one to open up our vulnerability to the public before attacking us.

It seems these crypto kidnappings are all happening in France from some reason.
I don't hear about them anywhere else, at least not yet.

Before the state acts, we should first evaluate ourselves, do they often show off their Bitcoin or other asset ownership? because it must be remembered that all of that is like Newton Third Law there is something that triggers it. Therefore the anonymity of bitcoin asset ownership is the main principle and is not immediately echoed if it has no benefits.

The savior complex of Europeans hits the wall named reality once again.

I would say if you are going to live in the third-world country like France is now, you should not flaunt your wealth. This is why anonymity is so important in crypto. But then again it is a double-edged sword that can be used by criminals either way. The better solution would have been to not import the war-torn third world populations in the first place. I guess the French would rather live in their own fantasy world than in a harsh, unequal reality.

The dogs bite the hand that feeds them, yet the idiots feed them again in hopes that next time they will not be bitten.

Although its very unfortunate to see those situation happening but still its great that french government is taking action towards those situation https://www.cointribune.com/en/the-french-government-is-responding-to-the-wave-of-kidnappings-targeting-crypto-entrepreneurs/

The growing number of this cases is really alarming and its good that police officials is aware then do something about these cases. What we do hope is that there's no second kidnapping victim would occur and government would find an effective solution to eliminate those group of people doing this kind of crime.

Thank you for your response. Beyond acting individually - an important facet here, though one that has been harped on more than any other - governments need to take security threats very seriously. Obviously, it's the nature of Bitcoin to attract individualists who believe in personal sovereignty, but this is slightly disingenuous as Bitcoin is becoming a reserve asset for nations and is being integrated into the core financial structure of the world. Thus, it's more than just an individual "don't tell people you own Bitcoin" issue. Governments must figure out ways to fight this type of violent crime.

It's both an individual and a society-wide problem. My guess is that this will make people think twice about establishing crypto businesses in France. This will hurt France.

I was curious to ask this question because so far, all the France-related attacks have been locals and somehow related to their local exchange, and it looks like the possibility of their information being leaked or something, and the attackers attack them directly or their family to say.

Sometimes, it might not necessarily mean that a hack occurs, but I am convinced that customers' information might get leaked through staff or whoever trades or is careless with customers' data for rewards. If I am not mistaken, there has been no news of any hack on any of the local French exchanges of late, but prominent and local people are being attacked by criminals in a well-planned manner.

Yes, there is a reason behind everything that happened, and according to what I read through my curiosity about the reason why some crypto holder executives were targeted by criminals in France.
The Chainalysis CEO, Jonathan Levin, said, "For whatever reason, there is a perception that’s out there in France that crypto is an asset that is untraceable, and that this lends itself to criminals acting in a certain way."
I believe the above reasons, with the inclusion of BlackRock and some government plans on using Bitcoin for reserve, are the reason why we see criminals targeting holders.

The French government shouldn't be disturbed with what to do about the high crime rate. If the people who are causing those problems are immigrants, the best thing to do with anyone who is caught is send them back home, and those who migrated there illegally should also be sent back.

You can't be sympathizing with people who are causing your citizens sleepless nights, but those legal immigrants who are working genuinely should be allowed to stay; anyone who poses a threat should be sent packing.

It is an exisiting problem in France and unfortunately it is a popular issue around Europe too. They have too low birthrate and need to open their borders for immigrants but those people must be quality and legal for entering. However, by many reasons in recent years, many illegal immigrants were accepted and law enforcements in European Union countries have become softer. This cause a kind of systematic problem that in turn increases crime rate in European Union but surely if can be changed with time to be better if governments change their approaches from soft to hard.

The famous saying nowadays in Western countries is "If you import the third world, you will become the third world", at national scale.

Since you are making guesswork, for the kidnappers to be gangs from Africa. I won't accept your guess to be true unless it is proven otherwise that the kidnappers are gangs from Africa really. And their identity reveals to the world, the harm Africa is causing in France. Till when that time comes, no continent citizens are far from being accused of being responsible for the act of kidnapping happening in France. Kidnapping we can find them in other nations, not in Africa only.

This act of kidnapping is condemnable by every nation. No continent is in support of it. I wish the kidnappers will be caught and brought to justice by sentencing them to death or life imprisonment

Crypto was supposed to provide people more freedom and control over their moneybut now it’s placing some at considerable risk. What’s happening in France is a wake up call, not just for the government but also for the crypto community. There has to be better coordination between law enforcement and crypto firms to track and prevent these crimes.
At the same time more education is needed around privacy and security, because if people don’t feel comfortable they’ll start walking away from it altogether.

I think there was a similar thread posted about this a few days/weeks ago where another kidnapping incident happened in another country.

This is very unfortunate considering that the advent of cryptocurrencies are booming in every country. If criminals are now targeting high-profile cryptocurrency investors, this would generally affect the overall image of cryptocurrencies. Instead of inspiring others to invest, this would hinder them from proceeding further, thereby creating a fear that can be associated with earning cryptocurrencies.

I just hope that the implementation and execution of laws and the law enforcement agency takes these kinds of matters seriously. Even outside cryptocurrency, the fact that crimes related to money are rampant tells a sign that we have to be vigilant with what we post and share.

European governments -including France- are constantly issuing strict laws against crypto companies and users, but unfortunately, they are not enacting the necessary laws to protect them from such recent incidents. Governments must protect their citizens by enacting laws that allow for harsh penalties to deter criminals.

Unfortunately, they are doing everything they can to prevent European users from maintaining their privacy through strict regulations, but they fail to consider the fact that they are putting their citizens at risk by exposing their privacy.

These reports aren't making crypto business owners & their families feel safe. They're going to be very scared because they don't want to be next. If it doesn't stop in France criminals in other countries will copy them it's going to get out of control.

Not long ago, I watched a movie here a robbery took place at an Apple store, and unexpectedly, the criminals demanded payment in Bitcoin.  It made so much sense as they knew that once Bitcoin is sent to an anonymous wallet and then mixed, it becomes extremely difficult to trace.  Ok.. that brings us to why crypto enthusiasts and CEOs have become targets, in Paris France. Criminals know there's lot of money involved and that digital assets offer anonymity if they can get their hands on them. The recent kidnappings only reinforce how dangerous it can be to flaunt wealth online or offline  especially to people in the crypto world without proper security.

For sure they have been preparing for that because it was that plausible in the first place and knowing that crypto is something that could be stolen without being that tracked then they will easily be trying out to abduct someone and made or ask out for some random in exchange for their families safety and that would be always the common set up for this. For those who do own business or crypto owners specially to those who had been owning that huge amount then having some security wont be harming them out, although it would be adding up on the expenses but for the sake of safety of your family and loved ones then its always been that recommended on getting one specially if you are a known crypto business owner then its not that hard to distinguish once your information being exposed. I do agree with those sayings that its better to make yourself that low key rather than on flexing your wealth online on which you are just that simply digging your own grave on this case. There are just that those instances that you cant be able to hid up yourself just because your business is already big and there's no way that you would be able to hide yourself and just like on what i have said that it will be that worth on getting some security because you can be able to afford it out. There are just that those people who are just that too confident that they are just that being safety but no one really knows that there's someone whose been that trying out to look on your movement and just that waiting up for the opportunity to have that stealing up your crypto assets. Actually its just that easy and if you arent that careful then you are that at very risky situation.

I do not think we should victim blame. We really should offer consequences to the criminals who committed the crime. Prevention is better than cure always but we also can't just ignore such acts.
I agree that we should be more careful with who we tell our financial situations to but it is not that impossible that a criminal just randomly picks out someone and finds crypto in them. This has happened before. They could invade a house as well and threaten to do something if the victims do not cooperate so there should be actions taken before it gets worse.

People just need to be careful. Be your own security boss. Try as much as you can not to flaunt wealth around. Crypto owners might not be the only ones being attacked, but crypto is making the headlines since it's something that can be easily tagged with anything.

I know it's not possible to hide that you own nothing when you come from a family that's fully involved in crypto and an exchange owner, but living a quiet life in most cases can safeguard someone from being a target.

In my opinion, people who owns cryptocurreny that isn't known to own a lot of money in crypto shouldn't flaunt what they have because they will het robbed or similar situation to the one you referenced in this thread. Even people who is known to be wealthy are even robbed in their house how much if they flaunt their wealth either in crypto or fiat then they will be surely get robbed or kidnapped sooner or later. As others have said, prevention is better than cure which I definitely agree with. For crypto, it is possible that people can't track it so they most likely target the mother and child for crypto rather than fiat. In short, people should be careful even if it is fiat or in crypto.

The police can't do anything about it because there are so many cryptocurrencies and it's impossible to know who will be attacked next. Everyone hides their cryptocurrency reserves, and if someone is a public figure, such as the director of an exchange or investment fund, then the thieves carry out targeted, very planned attacks, and therefore these serious guys need to take care of their own safety: hire serious, strong security. After all, if someone figured out how to make a fortune on crypto, then why doesn't he think about how to protect himself and his relatives from kidnapping.

And the government is always taking a lot of things for granted until it gets out of hand, and this is a perfect opportunity for them to make use of the ongoing situation to address a lot of pronlems and never can be sure that the immigrants are the onces causing issues and want people to be sent back home just because you think they are the onces behind the ongoing problem.

And as far as if comes to the issue of crime is concerned, all parties are sole contributors, and it is good that the issue is addressed because crime is a huge problem for society, so there is nothing that can obviously be done. We know crime is bad,, and those who are responsible should pay.

Enforce laws on the books and if the penalties are not harsh enough, increase them.  It isn't just for crypto crimes, but for any:  if you are violent or rob someone, you need to be out of the general population for a long time and learn to control yourself.

That's the sad reality in this life. We are vulnerable from these bad actors in the society even if we are not doing anything. We can't deny the fact that even if we are very cautious, still, there are people who will do such bad act to other people. They have their own reasons and we can't deny the fact that some of them are in desperate position.
For us to lessen our vulnerability, better be discreet with your online transactions or the ones that you shared in social media. Better keep your crypto activities to yourself and not be vulgar of what you are doing in this market. Because it is better to gain silently rather than oversharing it to others because you have no idea who is lurking about your whereabouts and other dealings.

Yeah, it’s getting out of hand lately. It’s not just CEOs or politicians anymore, like you said—even regular families are being targeted. Feels like no one’s really safe when money or perceived status is involved. Hopefully, the authorities take this more seriously before it gets worse

If a crypto holder's personal information is leaked, a third party may be able to learn how much cryptocurrency they have stored, which poses a risk to the holder. The holder's confidential information should never be made public. If it becomes public, the kidnappers will definitely kidnap the holder. If you look at the justification a little, it will become clear that those who have been kidnapped have basically publicized their Bitcoin holdings in some way or the other, which is why the kidnappers targeted them and kidnapped them.

It is not only because of holding crypto that such a situation is being created, but also unique people for ransom are being kidnapped. However, this is only due to legal laziness, criminals are getting more opportunities to kidnap, of course, it should be strictly legal in France so that criminals do not get the opportunity to kidnap any person for ransom in any way. If such attempts are made repeatedly for ransom or if crypto holders are tried to be kidnapped, the number of murders will increase later.
Because after kidnapping a person, if the ransom is not collected as desired by the criminals, the criminals can punish the kidnapped person in any way and can even kill him in the last stage, so this is the only legal way that can give the right decision on these matters in the system. Therefore, the criminals should be caught and punished.

The risk for influencers or entrepreneurs with significant wealth is that they will become targets for crime. So whoever they are, they must be prepared for the risks that will come. Many wealthy people may remain silent because they know the risks are very serious. But there are some who intentionally attract others with luxury items because it is part of their promotional efforts. I think crypto influencers around the world have a similar system. They showcase the results from crypto to attract others to join. Perhaps the best way is to have security protection from the police. Thus, the country must also improve the security system to protect its citizens.

It's definitely out of control. But I bet the law enforcer will have no drastic measure.

If things keep up the crypto millionaires are gonna be moving out of france and it'd be their loss because safety above anything else. They really need to do something.

The ordinary Bitcoin/altcoin user must keep his/her crypto activities and crypto wallets a secret. There's no better protection than this.
The CEOs of crypto companies are a big target, because they can't keep their activities related to crypto away from the public. They should take additional security measures to protect themselves and their families. CEOs have enough money to hire bodyguards or to install advanced security systems in their houses. Crime rates in Europe are going up, and we all know the reason(but I don't want to reveal it here).

France will offer crypto executives and their families enhanced security:

The measures include priority access to the police emergency line, home visits and safety briefings from law enforcement to advise on best practices, the French interior ministry said. Law enforcement officers will also undergo "anti-crypto asset laundering training."

https://www.politico.eu/article/france-crypto-entrepreneur-extra-security-kidnapping-attempt/

Thank you for providing an update on this incidence. It is good that the French security force is going to increase the security for leading crypto of entrepreneurs. But we don't just want this we want an overall increase in security because these kidnappers need decide to move from these public crypto figures to the ones who who just little cryptocurrency. Unfortunately since this new security and enhancement would not cover them, they would just be the new target.

This is a good move by the French police department as it would help put them under security watch and perhaps reduce the attacks on crypto executives in France. I also presume the security agency is always ready to make available security for crypto executives and enthusiasts whenever there is a seminar or any big crypto function in the city to ensure adequate security for adequate protection of participants before and after such gatherings and to also take records of unusual faces lurking around the seminar or conference venue who is not invited or suspicious.

Then, for the training of officers for asset laundering, I will support that because with this development, criminals would be afraid because they would be caught if they steal crypto assets from people, as their transactions would be traced and lead to them being caught by the police but however, this development would reduce the crime rate of attack on crypto enthusiasts in France.

This is a security issue and security issues should be addressed as such the country interior and home land security should make sure that citizens are protected not just for the crypto currency community, the issue of kidnapping should be dealt with and be treated and criminals brought to book if not it will continue and turn into something else as seen in other countries

It happens but not just a thing you see all over the internet.

I don't think it will drive away new investors, why are the victims always linked to a public figure, an ordinary investor won't fall under the threat, first will be how they find out about your assets, you have to be popular or linked with someone popular making you a target since no way you won't be holding in crypto or Bitcoin. There is nothing much to do than to be discreet with our investments, no need to let the whole world know you hold crypto assets, no matter how little your portfolio because they may assume it to be huge and you become the next target.

In my country, any form of kidnapping case the penalty is death by firing squad, same as arms robbery and raps, so yes you are right let the penalty for crimes be based on capital offenses and not just cryptocurrency inclined in a way, security is a global issues right now and most country are facing the issues with kidnapping and bandatery and terrorisms.

These kidnappings not only happening in France but it really seems that it's becoming out of control. But even so, I don't think that this will drive away the others in investing to Bitcoin.

This has to stop and it should start from all of the individuals to avoid flaunting their holdings and stop sharing it to the public on how much they have.

We have to be safe in our own ways as well so that we're not going to attract these bad actors looking at how we move every time they look for a heist.

Those who are bad will always find some way to do those bad things. But if such a situation happens often even in developed countries, then it is definitely a matter of concern. If the government of that country cannot catch such criminals and punish them, then the common people will lose trust. The number of such criminals in the country will continue to increase. Governments should be given utmost importance in the case of such crimes.

If such crimes happen almost everywhere in the world. But if we cannot be vigilant about this matter from now, the situation can get worse. Those who are crypto users should hide their crypto assets as much as possible. If the perpetrator finds out about his assets in any way, then he can definitely be in danger. It is better to be as safe as possible.

It's getting dangerous to go out with your smartphone where you have installed a crypto wallet or an exchange application. It's better to walk with a smartphone where there is no trace of you having a crypto.
My stance on this is that criminals should be punished as they deserve, i.e. strictly. In Barcelona, there are lots of thieves in public places which steal smartphones but police does nothing, they might catch someone and release them a soon. Some people work hard and then some steal all the hard work, spend a few time in prison and then go out, do it again and spend a little time again.
Prisons should either really punish people or we should choose Norway's model and make prisons heavily based on rehabilitation instead of punishment.

I agree! There should be, ideally, no way to access crypto directly from your smartphone. I know this will upset some Bitcoin purists who want Bitcoin to be used for everyday transactions, but these kidnappings are showing some real dangers to openly using Bitcoin. Uncensored and irreversible transactions are ripe to be a crime magnet - it's just not worth it from the standpoint of personal safety.

I can't say I blame people who store crypto in a way that makes it impossible for kidnappers to steal it - this means it's stored in a way that makes everyday purchases impossible. In other words, the seed phrases are nowhere near the person kidnapped, completely inaccessible, and he has no recollection what they are. So the kidnappers end up empty-handed with the police looking for them.

The cryptocurrency millionaires have to start protecting their family more by hiring more security officers to guide them because they're rich people and rich people are always the target of kidnappers. People that would have lost money from the projects they launched, promoted or listed on their exchange too will want to put the frustration on the millionaire and this will make them to kidnap them or the children when they can't have contact with the  millionaire. Security is a big problem everywhere but that of France has to be worked on because they're getting a bad publicity and that mightn't be good for the economy when the millionaire starts moving out. The new set of people making money are people in cryptocurrency hence they need to be protected.

Are you sure it's a movement from criminals focused in crypto adopters only, and not in wealthy individuals in general? Because crypto is money like any other currency and what differs one person from another for the criminals is how much they possess. So we could investigate it further in order to find out if it's not just a general security issue in France, where criminality rates in general could be rising exponentially against other groups of society as well, going beyond crypto adopters.

I believe crypto users specifically are being targeted due to the irreversible nature of crypto transactions. There is also the mistaken assumption among criminals that crypto transactions are untraceable. However, if crypto becomes a bigger part of the traditional finance world - which is likely - these kidnappings could increase and non-crypto people may end up getting targeted. So governments need to develop countermeasures to prevent kidnappings from spiraling out of control - for now it's out of control in France. The French government is on trial so to speak - if these attacks continue, the voters will throw out whoever is in charge, because it's embarrassing for the nation.

They're going to be careful for themselves & their families. If they hire bodyguards so they won't be kidnapped they'll be thinking about their families. It isn't safe for ppl working openly in crypto.

This is not what we want to hear about those involved in crypto, kidnapping them could fear them out of not wanting to engage in anything cryptocurrencies. The government needs to take action and protect the lives of those that are crypto holders as they are just like other citizens in the country that needs to be protected from this armed criminals. This does happen as we have heard of such cases in the past but I’ve never for once thought about it happening in this manner concurrently in a big city like Paris. Kidnappers now know where the real deal is and it should also serve as a reminder to those flaunting their wealth online to desist from doing that, crypto holder or no crypto holder, it’s a good thing to be discrete in your actions towards how you flaunt your wealth or source of income to the broader world.

Stop noticing.  You're not allowed to notice such things.

Please report to Re-education Camp #661, North Corridor, Street 14, and present yourself to Commissar Karen at Intake.