Wrench Attacks Hit Record Highs: 70+ Incidents Logged in 2025

Physical violence against cryptocurrency holders reached a grim milestone in 2025, with security researcher Jameson Lopp logging nearly 70 verified assaults, the highest annual count in his decade-long tracking project. The surge marks a sophisticated escalation from digital phishing to kinetic coercion, driven by soaring asset valuations.

The $11 Million Mission District Heist

The violence is becoming increasingly targeted. In late November, a San Francisco resident in the Mission District was tied up with duct tape by an assailant posing as a delivery driver. The attacker, who came armed, forced the transfer of $11 million in Ethereum and Bitcoin before fleeing. This wasn’t a random break-in; it was a precise extraction, signaling that on-chain transparency is increasingly being weaponized for real-world target selection.

Correlation With Market Cap

Dragonfly Capital’s Haseeb Qureshi analyzed Lopp’s dataset, identifying a stark correlation: violent incidents rise in lockstep with total crypto market capitalization. His regression model suggests that roughly 45% of the variation in attack frequency is explained purely by market valuations. As token prices swell, the incentive for physical coercion bypasses the technical difficulty of cracking multi-sig wallets or smart contracts.

The math is brutal but simple: When valuations double, the incentive to bypass digital security via physical violence doubles with them.

The Institutional Risk Layer

The threat vector has moved up the food chain. 2025 saw multiple kidnap-and-ransom (K&R) incidents targeting senior industry figures across Europe and Asia. In one particularly gruesome case reported in January, Ledger co-founder David Balland was kidnapped in France, with attackers resorting to mutilation to compel wallet access. This shift forces a re-evaluation of executive protection protocols; distinct from cyber-insurance, firms are now scrambling for K&R coverage.

The Per-Capita Nuance

Despite the absolute surge in violence, the data offers a cold comfort. When normalized by user growth, the per-capita risk has actually declined. Ownership expanded dramatically in 2025, diluting the statistical probability of being targeted compared to the wilder west of 2018. However, for high-net-worth individuals, the risk profile has inverted: anonymity is no longer just a privacy preference. It is a physical safety requirement.