The founder of SatoshiLabs, Alena Vranova, shared that attacks on people who hold Bitcoin
Speaking at the Baltic Honeybadger 2025 event in Riga, she explained that criminals are using violence to force victims to give up their wallet keys, and it is happening regularly.
Vranova said, “Every week, there is a Bitcoiner, at least one in the world, who gets kidnapped, tortured, extorted, and sometimes even worse”.
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She noted that the problem is not limited to wealthy or early Bitcoin investors. Even people with smaller holdings have been targeted. Some kidnappings have been over as little as $6,000 in crypto, and there have been murders linked to amounts around $50,000.
Vranova said 2025 is on track to see more physical attacks on Bitcoin holders than any previous year. This rise has pushed traders, developers, and company executives to be more careful about their personal safety.
One reason for the increase is the large amount of personal information that has been leaked from centralized crypto exchanges and other services.
These companies collect user data, including identification documents and home addresses, for verification purposes. If this information is leaked, it can help criminals find and target victims.
Vranova said:
We currently have more than 80 million Bitcoiner and crypto user identities leaked online; 2.2 million out of those contain home addresses.
On August 2, Arkham Intelligence reported that it had identified a Bitcoin theft that went unnoticed for years. What did the blockchain analyst firm say? Read the full story.
