France reports 90 crypto-linked violent crimes, 223 arrests

French authorities recorded 90 crypto-related kidnappings, abductions, extortion cases, threats and robberies between January 1 and mid-August 2026, and arrested 223 people in the same period, according to figures from the Interior Ministry reported by CoinTelegraph. Between January and July, 126 people were jailed.

The ministry said its tally began on January 1, 2026 and that no official comparison statistics exist for 2025.

Independent counts differ in scope. Chainalysis counted 30 publicly known crypto-related violent incidents in France through mid-2026, while gat.io tallied 73 offline attacks in the country this year — more than the 66 it recorded in the US and 27 in the UK.

The incidents were not confined to Paris, extending to Strasbourg, Marseille, Grenoble, Toulouse and Nantes. Among victims whose residence was identified, 93% were French residents rather than wealthy crypto tourists.

In May 2026, six men were implicated in an attempted kidnapping of the wife of The Sandbox co-founder Sébastien Borget at their home in Villeneuve. In August, a couple in rural France who bought a crypto millionaire's former house suffered three break-in attempts after the previous owner's tax information and address leaked on the dark web.

Prior leaks cited as possible cause

Chainalysis senior researcher Eric Jardine pointed to a possible major data leak as the cause of the surge. In 2024, a Paris-area tax official leaked French taxpayers' personal, financial and crypto holdings data, and Chainalysis records show attacks surged from late November of that year. In January 2026, crypto tax filing firm Waltio disclosed a breach affecting about 50,000 users. Until early 2026, relatives and acquaintances made up 25-30% of global crypto-related violent incidents, but over 40% in France.