Ledger co-founder David Balland kidnapped in France

[Kemarit]

https://x.com/le_Parisien/status/1882393967695708449

This could be the biggest physical attacks on a crypto personalities as it was reported that David Belland, co-founder of Ledger wallet was kidnapped in France, but he was released. Reports are still sketchy by this time, not sure if they paid ransom or what.

[UchihaSarada]

This could be the biggest physical attacks on a crypto personalities as it was reported that David Belland, co-founder of Ledger wallet was kidnapped in France, but he was released. Reports are still sketchy by this time, not sure if they paid ransom or what.

Ledger wallet is not a good hardware wallet, but this kidnap is not good too. Kidnap someone is never a good action of any person or group of people.
Ledger Recovery - Send your (encrypted) recovery phrase to 3rd parties entities

There are many Bitcoin physical attacks but this one can be one of most famous or biggest case.
https://github.com/demining/Physical-Bitcoin-Attacks
https://github.com/jlopp/physical-bitcoin-attacks

[Davidvictorson]

There are many Bitcoin physical attacks but this one can be one of most famous or biggest case.
https://github.com/demining/Physical-Bitcoin-Attacks
https://github.com/jlopp/physical-bitcoin-attacks

There are so many of them. While some of have been lucky to not be killed in the process but only had their bitcoins stolen, others have lost their lives and injured.
He has been freed according to reports from Bloomberg

A co-founder of French crypto wallet startup Ledger SAS who was kidnapped in central France has been released, the Paris prosecutor’s office said in a statement. David Balland was taken from his home in the early hours of Tuesday and freed on Wednesday night after a police operation. The criminals demanded the payment of a substantial ransom in cryptocurrency, the prosecutor’s office said.

I don't know if he paid any ransom or not but his release comes as a great news.

[bakasabo]

Did kidnapers know who they were kidnapping? I wish to know what was their plan. Kidnap David Belland and ask for money directly from him, thinking that he is rich and hold all the funds people store using ledger. Or wanted to get access to database with seed phrases (which is silly, as ledger dont store them)?

[headingnorth]

So he has been released, but minus a finger? Wow it's like something in a Liam Neeson movie.

[Nwada001]

Did kidnapers know who they were kidnapping? I wish to know what was their plan. Kidnap David Belland and ask for money directly from him, thinking that he is rich and hold all the funds people store using ledger. Or wanted to get access to database with seed phrases (which is silly, as ledger dont store them)?

Only the kidnappers know what their plans were, but it might be any of those you mention, or it might also not be; their plans can't be to get what the wallet developer doesn't have, but getting crypto won't be far from the reason, as it's already a known fact that a tech person and a wallet developer's possibility of also owning some heavy amount of coin is on the high side.

[Die_empty]

This could be the biggest physical attacks on a crypto personalities as it was reported that David Belland, co-founder of Ledger wallet was kidnapped in France, but he was released. Reports are still sketchy by this time, not sure if they paid ransom or what.

According to reports he was kidnapped on the 21st of January and the kidnappers demanded ramson on cryptocurrencies. He was released the next day through police intervention and according to the article no ransom was paid. Police usually report that ransom was not paid to discourage the kidnapping. In my area even when money is paid to the kidnappers the police will tell the public that it was an unconditional release through their efforts. Hope they didn't have access to some important Ledger data from David Belland.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/ledger-co-founder-david-balland-freed-after-kidnapping-in-france

[348Judah]

https://x.com/le_Parisien/status/1882393967695708449

This could be the biggest physical attacks on a crypto personalities as it was reported that David Belland, co-founder of Ledger wallet was kidnapped in France, but he was released. Reports are still sketchy by this time, not sure if they paid ransom or what.

This brought me to thinking about whether or if he was kidnapped in the first place, because according to the statement, they said he was kidnapped and later released, but there is no clear information about whether a ransom was paid to the kidnappers or not, as for me, i just want to believe that this may be to just stir the internet and see how people will react to it, though if it happens in real life, then its a condemnable act, because it does not solve any problem already in place with the use of ledger wallet regarding privacy.

[Charles-Tim]

This brought me to thinking about whether or if he was kidnapped in the first place, because according to the statement, they said he was kidnapped and later released, but there is no clear information about whether a ransom was paid to the kidnappers or not, as for me, i just want to believe that this may be to just stir the internet and see how people will react to it, though if it happens in real life, then its a condemnable act, because it does not solve any problem already in place with the use of ledger wallet regarding privacy.

Maybe he was kidnapped or not kidnapped, I think this will teach some people a lesson. I mean the people that are publicly known that they are into crypto. They need to physically protect themselves. Crypto require privacy but people like that do not have privacy because people know that they are into crypto. Maybe it is not true that he was kidnapped, but there are some ransom that will be paid but the person that paid it may not say anything. Or maybe police was able to find where the kidnappers hid him. If not true, people should still learn.

[Saint-loup]

Actually his wife had also been kidnapped with him, and she has been released today without being hurt. The ransom had been partialy paid but "Nearly all of these cryptocurrencies were traced, frozen, and seized" according to a magistrate in charge of the case. The criminals demanded several millions of euros in cryptocurrencies to other Ledger associates. 10 of them had been arrested by the police, 9 men and one women, aged between 20 and 40 years old.

[Dave1]

Actually his wife had also been kidnapped with him, and she has been released today without being hurt. The ransom had been partialy paid but "Nearly all of these cryptocurrencies were traced, frozen, and seized" according to a magistrate in charge of the case. The criminals demanded several millions of euros in cryptocurrencies to other Ledger associates. 10 of them had been arrested by the police, 9 men and one women, aged between 20 and 40 years old.

Ok, I thought that this is a whole setup or something because in the beginning, there are no source buy French news and twitter and there could be something lost in the translation. So thanks for confirming as I assumed you are French.

But I don't know, there are funny comments in other community that our Ledger might be compromised.

I don't think that will be the case though, our wallet will still be safe as we have total control of it and not the co-founder.

[BenCodie]

I will be keeping an eye on any investigations surrounding this - I have read so many stories of Ledgers being magically "hacked" when their main purpose was as a security solution, so I can't help but wonder if a victim of one of these hacks was behind this. Just a few weeks ago someone on X was posting about how they lost 5+ BTC that was stored in a ledger. Of course though, no one deserves to be kidnapped and kidnapping is no way to profit (nor recover losses), and I hope David can recover, move on, and keep himself safe going forward.

[apogio]

This is one more example of a bitcoin physical attack.

As such, Jameson Lopp has included it in his list of physical bitcoin attacks.

Luckily he was released, but unfortunately most of the time, people don't get released and are beaten hard.

[Zoomic]

https://x.com/le_Parisien/status/1882393967695708449

This could be the biggest physical attacks on a crypto personalities as it was reported that David Belland, co-founder of Ledger wallet was kidnapped in France, but he was released. Reports are still sketchy by this time, not sure if they paid ransom or what.

This brought me to thinking about whether or if he was kidnapped in the first place, because according to the statement, they said he was kidnapped and later released, but there is no clear information about whether a ransom was paid to the kidnappers or not, as for me, i just want to believe that this may be to just stir the internet and see how people will react to it, though if it happens in real life, then its a condemnable act, because it does not solve any problem already in place with the use of ledger wallet regarding privacy.

In my region, victims of kidnapping do not usually disclose much about what really transpired between them and the kidnappers. Maybe they are just being security conscious and trying not to reveal the kidnappers' tactics to the public so potential criminals don’t learn new methods. Whether there was a kidnapping case or not, this news should serve as a reminder to other crypto enthusiasts to be security conscious and avoid exposing too much about their financial lives to the public, especially when it involves crypto (Bitcoin).

[kotajikikox]

This could be the biggest physical attacks on a crypto personalities as it was reported that David Belland, co-founder of Ledger wallet was kidnapped in France, but he was released. Reports are still sketchy by this time, not sure if they paid ransom or what.

Ledger wallet is not a good hardware wallet, but this kidnap is not good too. Kidnap someone is never a good action of any person or group of people.

I do not think it is relevant to rate his platform in this case. Regardless whether his platform is good or bad for you, this is still alarming as he is a very well known personality in the crypto industry. People involved in crypto especially those with exposed personal details on the internet needs to put in extra safety measures.

He needs to tighten his security because kidnapping is not an easy thing to do and must have taken weeks if not months to plan and perfectly execute.

[retreat]

It was very bad for him to find himself in such a chaotic situation, but that's the risk for people who hold cryptocurrency assets when their identities are known to the public, they just don't know when there will be danger that will target them in public. Because this is not the first time a famous person in the crypto industry has been kidnapped in public, in my city alone there was a bitcoin millionaire from Russia who was kidnapped and had to lose his assets. This is one of the reasons why it is important to maintain identity or protect yourself when in public, we just don't know when a bad day will happen to us.

[aylabadia05]

Not because the status of the kidnapped person is the founder of Ledger, but whatever the name of the crime with the mode that is carried out, I always condemn it, including kidnapping.

It could be that this kidnapping case was because the kidnapper thought he was a rich person who had many assets. So it is not wrong if people know Bitcoin with the known price updates will assume he has many assets that will be a good target for action.
Hopefully nothing happens to David Balland.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

https://x.com/le_Parisien/status/1882393967695708449

This could be the biggest physical attacks on a crypto personalities as it was reported that David Belland, co-founder of Ledger wallet was kidnapped in France, but he was released. Reports are still sketchy by this time, not sure if they paid ransom or what.

I read this news several days ago, I think about 4 or 5 days ago, and from the news, It was reported that the kidnappers where asking for ransom in bitcoin.

Glad to learn that the man has been released in one peace without the kidnappers harming him, for this was the Issue I was most afraid of.

Whether ransom in bitcoin was later paid to the kidnappers as they requested, I believe no one knows, possibly they are hiding this from the general public, but what's good is to see the man back alive, this is all that matters.

Kidnapping and other forms of crime is something that has been since of old, and developments like this teaches everyone of us to take our personal security and safety very serious to avoid being a victim to such happenings as this.

[fikrett]

Not because the status of the kidnapped person is the founder of Ledger, but whatever the name of the crime with the mode that is carried out, I always condemn it, including kidnapping.

It could be that this kidnapping case was because the kidnapper thought he was a rich person who had many assets. So it is not wrong if people know Bitcoin with the known price updates will assume he has many assets that will be a good target for action.
Hopefully nothing happens to David Balland.

Agreed.
It's better to have not much print both in IRL and your cyber life, so to speak, to not be at such a risk of.. Physical assault and interest to the persona in question.

[Kemarit]

The good thing is that David and his wife is already safe, although reports says that his hands or maybe it was just a finger was mutilated.

It was already reported that they have paid the ransom in crypto, has been traced and frozen. And 10 people has been questioned already the authorities.

Mr David Balland, a co-founder of French crypto firm Ledger, had his hand mutilated while he and his wife were kidnapped, the Paris prosecutor said, adding that 10 people were being questioned following the freeing of the pair.

Mr Balland was taken to hospital and treated for injuries to one of his hands, she said, without giving details.

As of Jan 23, 10 people, most of them already known to police, were being questioned by the police, the prosecutor said. They face sentences of up to life in prison if convicted.

https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/kidnapped-co-founder-of-french-crypto-firm-ledger-had-his-hand-mutilated

Hopefully, justice will be served here and those criminals be punished and sent to jail.

As others have said, this is a good example that we should really take precautions and opsec very security.