TL;DR:
- Since January 1, 2026, regulation enforcement authorities in France have recorded a complete of 41 kidnappings or tried abductions linked to cryptocurrencies.
- Two minor suspects stay beneath police custody, whereas 4 different alleged accomplices stay at giant.
- The Nationwide Directorate of the Judicial Police paperwork 135 comparable incidents on French territory since 2023.
They tried to kidnap the spouse of Sébastien Borget, co-founder and chief working officer of the metaverse platform The Sandbox; the incident occurred at their residence positioned in Villenoy, France, this week and instantly mobilized native safety forces.
In response to the report by the French newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche (JDD), a faux supply driver managed to get the sufferer to open the property’s major gate. Then, 5 hooded accomplices entered the interior courtyard to pull her by power towards a automobile. The sufferer screamed so loudly that she alerted neighborhood neighbors, who intervened straight and compelled the attackers to flee.
Throughout the operational deployment following the assault, officers from the Meaux Anti-Crime Brigade intercepted a personal ride-hail automobile. Touring in mentioned automobile have been two of the alleged attackers, recognized as Mateo V. and Walid H., born in 2010 and 2009 respectively. Official stories point out that each carried a faux handgun, plastic zip-tie restraints, and balaclavas on the time of their seize. The Central Safety Directorate assumed management of the investigation to find the 4 remaining suspects.
The rise of crypto-focused violence in France
The police report signifies that the assault is straight linked to the household’s digital asset wealth. Borget, 40, oversees the event of a digital ecosystem based mostly on the Ethereum community that makes use of utility tokens and digital collectibles of excessive business worth.
Knowledge supplied by the Judicial Police of France recommend that the nation initiatives itself as a essential epicenter for this sort of crime in Europe, concentrating almost 80% of the circumstances reported within the area. Press stories element that in April 2026, a gaggle of armed criminals pressured one other household linked to the tech business to switch roughly $820,000 in digital property. These information coincide with a large investigation developed that very same month, which led to the submitting of felony prices in opposition to 88 folks on French territory for crimes of residential assault and crypto extortions.
Beforehand, executives of native corporations reminiscent of Paymium and the French division of Binance additionally figured as targets of organized gangs. Given the persistence of this felony development, Minister Delegate Jean-Didier Berger introduced the creation of a state prevention platform through the classes of the Paris Blockchain Week 2026. The Central Safety Directorate expects to publish new organized crime stability sheets on the shut of the following quarter.
