$41M in Losses as Crypto Wrench Attacks Hit Record High in 2025

[_act_]

Many of you know that we really discussed about different incidents of wrench attacks in 2025 on this forum, to the point that I remember that one resulted to death.

72 verified crypto “wrench attacks” happened last year, up 75% from 2024. Confirmed financial losses in 2025 exceeded $40.9 million, up 44% year over year, with kidnapping the most common attack method and physical assaults jumping 250%.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/41m-losses-crypto-wrench-attacks-140102565.html

We have discussed about the reason privacy is important. And for some people, security is very important if they are publicly known.

This is not what I will go further into to make explanations about as we have known about it on many threads that I created last year about it. This is just to let you know about the reported incidents of wrench attacks involving cryptocurrencies in 2025.

[Odusko]

Privacy is still the key, personal security one thing is to keep your coins off exchange and into self custody through privacy practices are the way out of physical attacks, 70%+ increased in crypto related physical thefts, several of those threads here in bitcointalk and outside the forum serves as warning and wake up call for crypto whale's to take privacy seriously in the year 2026.
Europe the most hit in those attacks in 2025 accounting for about 40% of the global attacks, followed by France with the kidnapped of ledger founder, this prove that public information is a risk to crypto holders.

[SFR10]

to the point that I remember that one resulted to death.

IIRC, there were more than one incident in the past year alone ^{[unfortunately]}.

and wake up call for crypto whale's to take privacy seriously in the year 2026.

You have a point, but that's easier said than done ^{[especially for those who are somewhat known]} when there are platforms that actively monitor every single one of their moves.
^{- BTW, I don't understand even though they can afford to hire a bodyguard, most of them don't do it!}

[Zwei]

We have discussed about the reason privacy is important. And for some people, security is very important if they are publicly known.

even if you are not publicly known, if you have a lot of crypto, you should keep your mouth shut about it. a lot of people keep talking about how much crypto they have as a flix or something, they are just asking for trouble tbh.
maybe tell one or two family members you trust what to do in case something happens to you, other than that no one else should know how much crypto you have.

^{- BTW, I don't understand even though they can afford to hire a bodyguard, most of them don't do it!}

probably because they underestimate the risk of getting jumped or kidnapped.

[Yamane_Keto]

These might indicate increased interest in Bitcoin or cryptocurrency use, but incidents of physical assault and kidnapping linked to cash far outnumber those involving cryptocurrencies. Privacy and the use of Bitcoin passphrase (or "25th word") may reduce the success rate of these attacks.

[Coyster]

I think a lot of these incidents happened in France, if i remember correctly, though law enforcement were able to apprehend the assailants on some occasions. I can only imagine how terrible it is to get kidnapped and beaten until you give up your seed phrase, not a position to be in, definitely not.

That said, it is advisable to add a passphrase to your seed phrase. Taking this action could possibly save you from a $5 wrench attack, if you can successfully make your assailants believe what you have in the base wallet is all that you have. Difficult but possible.