France records 77 crypto-linked kidnapping and extortion cases this year
Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said France is pursuing a more ambitious three-part security plan with arrests, emergency identification tools, and closer coordination with ADAN and foreign partners.
France has recorded 77 cases this year involving unlawful confinement, abduction, extortion or attempted extortion tied to crypto-sector actors, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said, as he outlined a “more ambitious” three-part response. Nuñez said 200 people had been arrested either after incidents or in anticipation, 724 crypto-sector participants had been enrolled in immediate-identification systems for emergency services, and authorities were deepening coordination with ADAN, domestic agencies and foreign partners. The total compares with 45 cases across 2025, underscoring how French authorities are treating the threat as a recurring organized-crime problem affecting visible crypto industry participants and holders.
- ADAN: Association pour le Développement des Actifs Numériques, a French digital-asset industry group.
- immediate-identification systems: Emergency registration tools meant to help authorities quickly recognize high-risk individuals during an incident.
- extortion: The crime of obtaining money or assets through threats, coercion or intimidation.