Comment
Author: Admin | 2025-04-28
70, who frequently helps industry contacts to secure physical security services. “Demand has grown considerably.”Because not every case of kidnap or extortion is reported, it is difficult to objectively assess the actual risk to wealthy figures in crypto. In making the fear of kidnap more acute, the headlines benefit the private security businesses, themselves incentivized to overstate the threat.However, it is the case that people who control large amounts of crypto are more exposed to violent extortion than the typical executive by the nature of the technology: Unlike regular currency, crypto is stored in digital wallets protected only by alphanumeric keys. Because crypto transactions are irreversible, if a bad actor can coerce someone into handing over their key, they gain unfettered access to the coins in their wallet.“That is one of the principles on which crypto was founded—the principle of self-custody. Not your keys, not your crypto,” says one crypto executive who has previously used bodyguard protection, who asked to remain anonymous for personal safety reasons. “It’s the equivalent to stuffing [your money in] your mattress.”Over time, crypto organizations have taken steps to dilute the risk associated with self-custody, including by storing coins in special wallets that require the signature of multiple people for any transactions to take place. Sometimes they go as far as to split wallet keys into several shards, each of which can be stored in a separate high-security bunker across the globe. But even elaborate measures only go so far in disincentivizing kidnap and attempted extortion.“There are many more layers of security now than five or 10 years ago,” says the crypto executive. “But at the end of the day … gun to your head, the [kidnapper] has all your money.”Though disproven many years ago, the misconception that crypto transactions are anonymous and untraceable has contributed
Add Comment