Headline: Brutal “wrench attacks” surged in 2025 — at least 65 documented cases and several high‑profile crimes have rattled the crypto world
As Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies continue to move into the mainstream, a darker trend has accompanied their rise: an uptick in violent, real‑world coercion aimed at stealing private keys and crypto assets. Known in the industry as “wrench attacks” — physical assaults, kidnappings or torture intended to force victims to reveal wallet access — these crimes have made headlines around the world in 2025.
Scope of the problem
- A public database maintained by Jameson Lopp, CTO of security firm Casa, lists at least 65 wrench attacks documented in 2025, and Lopp and others warn many more likely go unreported.
- The incidents underline how the intersection of high crypto balances, public profiles and physical vulnerability can put investors at extreme risk.
Notable cases that drew global attention
1) Kidnapping of a Ledger co‑founder (France, January)
- Ledger co‑founder David Balland and his wife were abducted from their home, taken to a nearby town and held for about 24 hours before French authorities freed them.
- French newspaper Le Parisien reported that assailants severed one of Balland’s fingers and sent it to his associates to pressure ransom payments.
- In June, French police arrested a French‑Moroccan national alleged to be the ringleader of this kidnapping and linked to other May plots in France.
2) British Columbia family attack (crime in 2024; sentencing in November)
- A family in British Columbia endured a brutal attack in which four assailants breached the home after posing as postal workers. The perpetrators subjugated the adults, used waterboarding and threatened severe sexual mutilation to force access to crypto accounts. Their daughter was sexually assaulted and coerced into recording degrading videos.
- About $1.6 million in crypto was stolen, nearly depleting the victims’ holdings. In November, one of the four men was sentenced to seven years in prison.
3) Tourist drugged and robbed in London
- Jacob Irwin‑Cline, a U.S. visitor from Portland, Oregon, was reportedly lured into the wrong vehicle while waiting for an Uber outside a nightclub in London. He was allegedly given a cigarette believed to be laced with scopolamine, a sedative that can render victims suggestible or amnestic. While incapacitated, Irwin‑Cline inadvertently provided access to his accounts, losing roughly $72,000 in XRP and $50,000 in Bitcoin. He was later abandoned in an unfamiliar part of the city.
4) Alleged prolonged torture for crypto passwords (U.S. case involving New York defendants)
- Two New York men, John Woeltz and William Duplessie, were charged with luring an Italian businessman into a residence, where he was allegedly bound, beaten, drugged and subjected to electric shocks and death threats across a multi‑week affair, all in attempts to extract passwords for cryptocurrency accounts.
- Defense lawyers presented footage they say shows the alleged victim participating willingly. The two men pleaded not guilty and were released on $1 million bail in July as proceedings continue.
5) Beating and murder in Vienna linked to crypto withdrawals
- In one of the most horrific incidents of the year, a 21‑year‑old student identified as Danylo K., the son of a Ukrainian deputy mayor, was ambushed in a hotel garage in Vienna, severely beaten and later burned. Witnesses and authorities reported extreme injuries; withdrawals from his crypto wallets were detected following the attack. Two Ukrainian nationals fled the scene but were arrested in Ukraine after crossing the border. Motive has not been definitively established.
What this trend means for crypto users
- These incidents are stark reminders that crypto security is not purely digital: physical safety and operational security matter. Public profiles, social media oversharing about holdings, and travel with unprotected access to wallets can make people targets.
- Security experts recommend strong operational practices such as keeping seed phrases offline and concealed, avoiding public discussion of large holdings, using reputable custody solutions where appropriate, and being cautious about electronic and physical security while traveling.
The rise in wrench attacks has pushed law enforcement, industry security teams and the broader crypto community to confront the human cost of theft in the digital‑asset era. As long as large sums remain accessible through relatively small strings of words or a device in someone’s pocket, these violent attempts to extract access will remain a critical concern for anyone involved with crypto.
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