CertiK Intel3D H1 2026 Wrench Attacks

[_act_]

You can read about this on the website directly which is very simple to read and has more information and explanations
https://www.certik.com/certik-report/intel3d/intel3d-wrench-h1-2026

I will only share the easy to understand infographic on this forum. Wrench attack are increasing and also the money they are demanding for are increasing. Europe is the highest place the attack is happening, specifically France.

The crypto wrench attack in only H2 of this 2026 which just started in July and we are still in July is 17 which is the same with H2 of 2025. You will see useful information about the attack on the images.









With time more countries and continents can be like France and Europe. It is good to have privacy. If you are a well known person like someone heading a crypto exchange, hardware wallet company and other crypto related, protect yourself and your family and be very careful.

[SilverCryptoBullet]

You can read about this on the website directly which is very simple to read and has more information and explanations
https://www.certik.com/certik-report/intel3d/intel3d-wrench-h1-2026

stats.gart.io is a good site for checking report, stats, charts about cryptocurrency physical attacks.
A latest report https://gart.io/resources-subscription?utm_source=research-paper but you need to subscribe for it.

This timeline chart https://stats.gart.io/#timeline gives me a feeling that cryptocurrency physical attacks tend to have its four-year cycle too. Looking at the peaks so far, 2018, 2022, and very likely a next peak is 2026. Because 2025 year has 83 reported cases while in a little bit more than a half of 2026 there are 56 reported cases so far.

[Upgrade00]

It will be great if we can have a regular crime chart in those regoonsbfor comparison. This could be a result of growing crime in certain areas and not anything to do with direct increase in wrench attacks.

Even if this is correct, the risk is still high and people should try to stay as private as possible with their Bitcoin holdings and overall wealth to not attract the wrong kind of attention. Also have a fail safe and plausible deniability routes in case you ever fall victim.

[promise444c5]

It will definitely increase with its wide usage.. the important thing to note is how’re they getting their Victims?

This thing still goes way down to a random person, strangers, anyone per se getting to know you own some Bitcoin.  

People need to stop exposing themselves on the internet about their status  generally.. Goto X specifically, you will see a lot of people engaging in discussions that clearly gives them  off.. while their profile shows their entire life including where they live and visit from time to time  

Another way is through all this breaches, hacks , and malicious employees[yeah.. some service go to the length of proving when you’re currently located in their KYC ,imagine those data end up with someone  evil ]

[joniboini]

I was confused at first. Because I thought this Intel3D is related to Intel HD GPU for some reason.

Speaking of the stats, I'm surprised that Europe is the highest. Judging from some news report I came across, I though Asia has many cases related to $5 wrench attacks. I remember reading several news in my country too. Though the number is small, around 1 reported incident per year or so. I expect some attacks were not reported though. Sometimes the attackers don't plan to steal their crypto in the first place.

[Patikno]

All the news about wrench attacks is horrific, and there are various categories of crimes that can occur; ranging from robbery, kidnapping, torture resulting in death (murder).

It should be better for anyone to never feel safe, just because there are no similar cases in their country, or only a few. A crime can happen anytime, anywhere. Therefore, maintain your security as best as possible, and don't try to flex your wealth, especially when it comes to crypto, which has significant value.

By the way, a similar case just happened in my country, and it happened just this month. I think we have a lot to learn from these cases. I believe most of them arise from poor privacy practices (due to negligence, or intentional), especially when it comes to protecting information related to money (in any form, including crypto or Bitcoin).

You can read about the case, here : beincrypto.com - Russian Man Kidnapped and Tortured For 30 Hours

[bitmover]

With time more countries and continents can be like France and Europe. It is good to have privacy. If you are a well known person like someone heading a crypto exchange, hardware wallet company and other crypto related, protect yourself and your family and be very careful.

Certainly one of the problems of self custody.... Live savings in a bank cannot be all drained at the same time, like a bitcoin wallet.

Sometimes this is an opportunity for ETF? I wonder if investors are moving to ETF because of such attacks and hacks...

People who have bitcoin in ETF won't suffer such attacks (there are other problems with holding an ETF, but it is sometimes safer)

[joniboini]

I believe most of them arise from poor privacy practices (due to negligence, or intentional), especially when it comes to protecting information related to money (in any form, including crypto or Bitcoin).

In cases that I came across, some of them weren't planned. They just stalk people who look rich, kidnapped them while they're on their way, open their phone and then find out that they have Binance or whatever popular crypto app they used. Then they just tortured them or asked them to send their crypto to another address. I think I've read 3 cases like that. I guess what we can learn is we should avoid looking rich as much as possible.