Ledger’s co-founder was kidnapped to steal cryptocurrencies. What did he go through before he was released?
One of the key rules for a cryptocurrency investor is to tell no one about their connection to the coin world. Still, during the bullrun, digital assets can quickly and sharply increase in value, which is quite predictably of interest to criminals. Alas, some members of the blockchain sphere are public and fail to keep themselves safe. This week, Ledger co-founder David Balland was the victim of a kidnapping.
Details of the kidnapping of the cryptocurrency company’s co-founder
As The Straits Times reporters note, the co-founder of the largest hardware wallet maker was released, but his hand was “mutilated.” What exactly we are talking about – it is not known exactly. However, some members of the crypto community on Twitter speculated that it could be about a severed finger, although there is no confirmation of this.
Ledger Flex hardware cryptocurrency wallet
Either way, it’s been a terrible week for Balland and his wife. They were kidnapped on the morning of Tuesday 21 January from their home in “central France” before being driven in two cars to different locations. According to Paris prosecutor Laura Becco, they were then held captive and tried for ransom in cryptocurrencies.
Again, Balland's connection to the world of cryptocurrencies and the blockchain community was obvious - that's why the criminals tried to get coins in return for the entrepreneur's release. At the same time, David himself does not work at Ledger and has not been associated with this company since 2021.
As the sources note, the criminals did get some of the requested funds. However, as things were happening, a hunt was predictably launched against them, which ended in success. The rescue operation involved more than 90 officers from the French police’s elite tactical unit, GIGN, who eventually located the criminals.
The operation led to the capture of two criminals and the interrogation of ten people who could even face life imprisonment. Ballan has been taken to hospital where doctors are primarily treating his hand. The entrepreneur’s wife was found tied up in the car, but without any injuries.
Cryptocurrency thief
The prosecutor also noted that the cryptocurrencies sent to the attackers were mostly traced, frozen and seized. Which means it can be assumed that the criminals decided to use centralised solutions like crypto exchanges for coin transactions. Or they demanded a ransom in stablecoins, following the example of USDT, which can be frozen by the issuer – Tether.
The incident was commented on by Ledger CEO Pascal Gauthier. Here is his retort from Twitter.
We are very happy and have experienced great relief that David and his wife have been released and are safe. I have already reached out to him and our thoughts continue to be with David, his family, and our team members who interacted with him during his time at Ledger. We are grateful to law enforcement for their swift action. Our primary concern has always been to allow law enforcement to do their job and keep the investigation moving forward. We respected their requests for confidentiality of critical details in the investigation and in addition appreciate the members of the press who did the same.
On a separate note, I would like to thank Eric [meaning Eric Larcheveque, co-founder of Ledger – editor’s note] for his courage in such a traumatic situation that hopefully will never happen again. Thank you to everyone who supported David’s safety and voiced wishes. With this in mind, and in order to preserve the privacy of David and his family, we will not be commenting further.
Rumours of a possible kidnapping of one of Ledger’s co-founders surfaced on the internet back in the middle of the week, but the company’s representatives did not comment in any way on what was going on. As it has become clear now, they were aware of the situation, but tried to help their former colleague and not interfere with law enforcement agencies, keeping everything secret.
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How to protect your cryptocurrencies
One of the best solutions for storing crypto is a combination of a secure hardware wallet along the lines of Ledger and Trezor, and a regular hot wallet like Phantom or SolFlare.
The trick is to use the hardware wallet solely for sending and receiving coins, ignoring interaction with decentralised applications. This way, a possible future hack of the platform will not allow hackers to influence what happens to your blockchain address.
Ledger Stax hardware wallet
Well, for exchange transactions, providing liquidity or buying NFT, you should use hot wallets, which should be topped up just from a hardware device.
We protect the main part of cryptocurrency savings with the help of a hardware wallet, and send only those coins to the hot wallet that are needed for operations. If such platforms are hacked, you will be able to minimise your own losses at least.
You should also regularly revoke the permissions granted to decentralised applications. This is done either through the Revoke.cash platform or in the security settings of modern wallets like Phantom.
However, the key security factor is not to tell anyone about your connection to cryptocurrencies. The only exception may be close relatives, but they should be asked not to spread this information further. As the situation with Ledger’s co-founder shows, sometimes criminals are willing to go to extreme measures in an attempt to make money.
Cryptocurrencies have a knack for producing significant growth during bullruns. Therefore, you should treat them with caution and responsibility. In this case, saving coins and earning on them will be much more realistic.
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