The Grisliest Bitcoin and Crypto Wrench Attacks That Grabbed Headlines in 2025 – Decrypt

Crypto’s growing mainstream presence has not been all good news for investors. 

Alongside Bitcoin’s price rise, a growing list of wrench attacks—that is, physical attacks meant to coerce a victim to hand over access to their crypto holdings—have taken place over the course of 2025. 

According to a publicly available database of wrench attacks from Jameson Lopp, CTO of security firm Casa, at least 65 wrench attacks have been documented this year, with the expectation that many others go publicly unreported. 

Below we’ll walk through some of the most gruesome, high-profile wrench attacks that grabbed headlines this year, 

Ledger co-founder kidnapped

Ledger co-founder David Balland was kidnapped from his home and held for ransom in a wrench attack that took place in France in January. 

Balland and his wife were taken from their home to a nearby town and held for around 24 hours before they were freed by French authorities. 

At the time, French newspaper Le Parisien reported that the assailants severed one of Ballard’s fingers and sent it to his associates as a way to try and lure ransom payments. 

In June, French police arrested a French-Moroccon national alleged as the ringleader for Balland’s kidnapping scheme, as well as other May kidnapping plots in France. 

Waterboarding, sexual assault in Canada

A family in British Columbia, Canada were victims to a gruesome wrench attack that took place in 2024, but prompted headlines upon sentencing of a perpetrator in November.

Two attackers gained entry to the house under the guise of postal workers before providing access to another two assailants. Once inside, the crew waterboarded the husband and wife and threatened to cut off the husband’s genitals while attempting to gain access to their crypto accounts. 

Their daughter was sexually assaulted and forced to record videos, in which she exposed her genitalia and was forced to recite explicit phrases. The men made off with around $1.6 million in crypto, nearly draining the victim’s accounts. 

In November, one of the four men was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Abducted, drugged in fake Uber

A U.S. resident visiting London was lured into the wrong vehicle when waiting for an Uber outside a nightclub, and ultimately fell victim to the theft of his cryptocurrency. 

Jacob Irwin-Cline from Portland, Oregon was then tricked into smoking a cigarette believed to have been laced with scopolamine, a sedative that can cause blackouts while keeping victims conscious and suggestible.

While under the influence, Irwin-Cline inadvertently provided access to his crypto accounts, leading to the loss of around $72,000 in XRP and $50,000 in Bitcoin. After the attackers gained access to his accounts, he was abandoned in an unfamiliar part of London. 

Kidnapped, tortured in NYC

Two New York men were charged in a crypto case in which they allegedly lured an Italian businessman into a residence under false pretenses. 

Once there, the man was allegedly bound, beaten, and drugged in an attempt to retrieve his password to accounts containing cryptocurrency. 

The attackers are said to have employed medieval-style torture methods, including electric shocks, alongside threats to murder the victim’s relatives, in an affair that lasted multiple weeks. 

However, in a twist, lawyers for the defense presented video footage that claims the alleged victim was enjoying himself voluntarily. 

The two men—John Woeltz and William Duplessie—were arrested, but ultimately pleaded not guilty. The pair were released on $1 million bail in July as the proceedings unfold. 

Vienna man tortured, set on fire

In one of the most gruesome attacks of the year, a 21-year old student in Vienna was beaten and burned beyond recognition in November.

Danylo K., son of the deputy mayor of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, was ambushed by two men in a hotel garage and forced to drive his car to a different location. 

He was then beaten badly enough that his teeth fell out, and was left to suffocate in the backseat as they doused him in gasoline and set him on fire. 

Though a motive was not immediately clear, withdrawals from his crypto wallets were later detected. The assailants, two Ukrainian nationals, were apprehended and arrested in Ukraine after they fled across the border following the crime.