In the most recent in a string of kidnappings connected to cryptocurrencies, French police on Saturday night freed the father of a cryptocurrency entrepreneur from his captors, only to discover that he had lost one of his fingers.
On Thursday morning, four guys in ski masks pushed the victim, who has not been named, into a van on a Parisian street. Before being freed, he spent two days as a captive at an Airbnb located 12 miles south of the French capital. According to CNN affiliate BFM TV, the kidnappers reached out to the victim’s son, sent a video showing the mangled victim, and demanded millions of euros in ransom money.
The Paris Prosecutor’s office reports that five individuals, aged 23 to 27, were taken into police custody after the operation. The abduction is quite similar to recent abductions involving cryptocurrency in France and other nations. David Balland, a co-founder of the cryptocurrency wallet startup Ledger, and his spouse were abducted from their central French home in January 2025. The attackers removed Balland’s finger before the police released the pair, sending a video of the amputation to his business associate Eric Larchevêque and requesting ransom money.
The wife of influencer and cryptocurrency investor Stéphane Winkel was abducted from their Belgian house in December 2024. In a post on X, Winkel stated that she was saved following a dramatic police pursuit in which her abductor smashed his vehicle. Whether or not the latest wave of kidnappings using cryptocurrency is related is unknown.
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