In a stark warning to the cryptocurrency community, Alena Vranova, founder of SatoshiLabs, highlighted the alarming surge in “wrench attacks”—violent physical assaults aimed at forcing victims to surrender their private keys for Bitcoin (BTC) and other digital assets.
Speaking at the Baltic Honeybadger 2025 conference in Riga, Latvia, Vranova painted a grim picture:
Every week, there is a Bitcoiner, at least one in the world, who gets kidnapped, tortured, extorted, and sometimes even worse..
Alena Vranova
This year alone, physical attacks on Bitcoiners are projected to double the record highs from previous years, spurring a wave of enhanced personal security measures among investors, developers, and industry leaders. Related: Wrench Attacks Push Crypto Users Toward Centralized Custody Solutions Data Breaches Fuel the Fire for Violent Criminals The vulnerability is amplified by massive data leaks from centralized exchanges and service providers, which hoard user details under KYC mandates. These breaches hand criminals a roadmap to target victims and their loved ones.
We currently have more than 80 million Bitcoiner and crypto user identities leaked online; 2.2 million out of those contain home addresses.
Alena Vranova
Such incidents spike in tandem with Bitcoin’s price rallies, thriving in bull markets where perceived wealth draws more predators. In May, Coinbase reported a security incident exposing personal data, including home addresses, for a limited number of users. Just a month later, Cybernews revealed a staggering compilation of over 16 billion compromised login credentials from major platforms like Apple, Facebook, and Google. These exposures heighten risks for crypto enthusiasts, opening doors to phishing, social engineering, account takeovers, identity fraud, and sophisticated scams aimed at draining wallets.
