After a Violent Kidnapping, Crypto Elites Hire Bodyguards

In the early morning of January 21, David Balland and his wife were forced at gunpoint into separate vehicles outside their home in Méreau, a commune in the opulent Loire Valley, France. The kidnappers had targeted Balland, who cofounded cryptocurrency wallet company Ledger, with the goal of winning a ransom, a prosecutor has claimed.
The kidnappers communicated their demands—the specifics of which have not been disclosed by law enforcement—to Éric Larchevêque, another Ledger cofounder. To flush out the full payment, they severed one of Balland’s fingers. French authorities dispatched more than two hundred officers to investigate.
On January 22, officers rescued Balland from a property in the neighbouring town of Châteauroux. They later discovered his wife—trussed up, but otherwise unharmed—in the back of a beaten up van.
These events were relayed by Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau at a press conference on January 23, and in subsequent reports. The authorities had arrested ten people suspected to be connected to the kidnapping, Beccuau announced. For acts of “torture, barbarity and extortion,” she said, those arrested face up to life in prison if convicted.
Ledger declined to comment, citing the ongoing investigation and the need to afford privacy to Balland. In an X post Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier said, “We are deeply relieved that David and his wife have been released.”
The grisly kidnapping—which came shortly after a crypto executive was held for ransom in Canada and the assassination of the United Healthcare CEO—has spooked the crypto industry. To protect themselves, wealthy crypto figures are turning to bodyguard services, which have experienced an influx of requests, sources with knowledge of the physical security sector tell WIRED.
“Like any human emotion, fear is a significant motivator…The headlines certainly mobilize a lot of that concern,” says Adam Healy, a former US Marine and chief executive at crypto-focused cybersecurity company Station 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 ten 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 to the danger faced by members of the crypto industry, claims Healy. “What the bad guys see is untraceable internet money in the millions of dollars. That’s not an entirely true characterization—but that’s all they see. They see this as an easy button,” he says.
The way crypto investors think about physical security has evolved markedly over time, security experts report, in line with changes in the amount of money that has flowed into the industry, the level of public attention, and the understanding of risks associated with flaunting crypto wealth.
In 2013, after bitcoin experienced a surge in price, early investors sought bodyguard protection as an outward display of their new wealth, says John Moore, managing director at Westminster Security, a London-based private security firm. This generation of crypto nouveau riche—whom Moore took to calling the “Bitcoin Boys”—would fly to London for luxury shopping trips and ask for security to be laid on thick. “They thought it looked cool to be seen to have an entourage of bodyguards and luxury vehicles,” says Moore. “It was overkill.”
Today, the crypto elite prefer to go unnoticed where possible, usually opting for plain clothes bodyguards—a reflection of a keener understanding that “wealth attracts undesirables,” says Moore. “The Bitcoin Boys have grown up. They now go for low-key, covert protection,” he says.
Few clients from the crypto sector require round-the-clock supervision, opting to use bodyguards predominantly when attending public events or travelling to locations abroad.
The practical reality of protecting a crypto executive differs from case to case, sources say, but generally has more to do with logistics than muscle. It involves corresponding with venues that clients plan to attend, scouting out locations in advance, communicating with law enforcement, and man-marking clients if ever they need to move through a crowd.
“These guys are like rockstars in the world that they move in,” says Darrell M. Blocker, who founded personal security company DMB Consulting Services after retiring from a long career as a high-ranking CIA operative. “The people who follow crypto know who the major stars are.”
The general idea is for a bodyguard never to be forced into action, but instead to head off any potential threats long in advance. In rare cases, if a client is travelling to a particularly dangerous region, that might involve laying on armed escorts and bulletproof vehicles, or even paying off gangs and cartels that control particular territories, claims Blocker.
“We talk to the cops and we talk to the people the cops would want to put in jail. We have to be able to talk to both parties,” says Blocker. “Kidnapping is a business—and businessmen are willing to negotiate…There is honor among thieves.”
Sometimes, the relationship between bodyguard and client becomes almost familial by way of the close quarters in which they work. In other cases, clients take poorly to the imposition that comes with having their movements planned out meticulously—they object to being denied spontaneity. “Handing over your life to someone is never an easy task,” says Blocker.
However, after incidents like Balland’s kidnapping, crypto figures are coming round to the view that having a security detail is a necessary inconvenience. For every crypto kidnapping that comes to light, an equal number go unreported, estimates Healy, who claims to have been quietly informed about a number of incidents that have never been made public. “That’s testament to people being really just want it to go away,” says Healy. “The risk is real.”
By calling attention to the vulnerabilities specific to handling crypto, high-profile incidents could have the perverse effect of inspiring other would-be extortionists. “These cases do become very sensationalized, but the risk is copycat attempts being made ,” says Ryan Martin, VP of operations at Crisis24 Private Strategic Group, which provides bodyguarding and other security services.
Though investors have become smarter about publicizing their crypto wealth and organizations are more savvy about the way they store crypto, some level of threat is unavoidable, says the crypto executive who spoke anonymously to WIRED: “If you decide to be your own bank, you have to be prepared for the risks.”