CoinDesk News Share Share this article Copy linkX (Twitter)LinkedInFacebookEmail Most Influential: The Wrench CoinDesk News Share Share this article Copy linkX (Twitter)LinkedInFacebookEmail Most Influential: The Wrench

Most Influential: The Wrench Attackers

2025/12/10 23:00
4 min read
Share
Share this article
Copy linkX (Twitter)LinkedInFacebookEmail

Most Influential: The Wrench Attackers

Perpetrators use various tactics, including posing as delivery drivers or waiting at gyms, homes, or hotel rooms, to target victims and demand access to their wallets.

By Francisco Rodrigues|Edited by Cheyenne Ligon
Updated Dec 10, 2025, 3:33 p.m. Published Dec 10, 2025, 3:00 p.m.

Cryptocurrencies are digital assets, by nature incorporeal and intangible. Some even call them "magic internet money." Yet cryptocurrency investors aren’t immune to the physical realities of our world.

This feature is a part of CoinDesk's Most Influential 2025 list.

One of the most influential forces in the space this year was the slew of violent attacks that leveraged physical violence, intimidation, and fear to steal people's crypto.

The “wrench attack,” once a meme about how no amount of encryption can stop a metal object to the head, became all too real in 2025.

From Paris to New York to Sweden to Thailand, a new wave of threats emerged this year, where the price of holding your own keys wasn't limited to volatility and phishing schemes, but physical violence against crypto holders began to ramp up.

These weren’t isolated events. Crypto OG Jameson Lopp has been tracking known physical bitcoin-related attacks and has now registered more than 260 cases since 2014, with incidents of wrench attacks up at least 169% this year alone. And Lopp's numbers are based on attacks that have been reported in the news — meaning the true size of the wrench attack epidemic could be even bigger.

Perpetrators range from organized gangs to opportunists who used on-chain footprints, luxury purchases, and social media oversharing to pick their marks. Some posed as delivery drivers. Others waited at gyms, homes, or hotel rooms. The message was the same: give up the wallet, or else.

As a result, physical security is now a front-line issue in crypto. Lopp has been campaigning to promote protection against wrench attacks. Being safe in crypto doesn’t just mean holding your private key, but now also involves physical security. Depending on an investor's profile, this could be anything from increased operational security (OpSec) to hiring armed bodyguards.

For some people, it also means another insurance policy. Some well-known companies, including insurance giant Lloyd's of London, have started offering their clients coverage in the case of wrench attacks or related kidnappings. On top of that, wallet developers have started integrating security features like codes that trigger silent alerts or wipe out data.

KidnappingLedgerCoinDesk Most Influential 2025

More For You

Protocol Research: GoPlus Security

Commissioned byGoPlus

What to know:

  • As of October 2025, GoPlus has generated $4.7M in total revenue across its product lines. The GoPlus App is the primary revenue driver, contributing $2.5M (approx. 53%), followed by the SafeToken Protocol at $1.7M.
  • GoPlus Intelligence's Token Security API averaged 717 million monthly calls year-to-date in 2025 , with a peak of nearly 1 billion calls in February 2025. Total blockchain-level requests, including transaction simulations, averaged an additional 350 million per month.
  • Since its January 2025 launch , the $GPS token has registered over $5B in total spot volume and $10B in derivatives volume in 2025. Monthly spot volume peaked in March 2025 at over $1.1B , while derivatives volume peaked the same month at over $4B.
View Full Report

More For You

Most Influential: Pump.fun

The platform saw massive success in 2025, with over $150 billion in cumulative volume, $138 million in monthly revenue, and a notable $500 million token sale in July.

Read full story
Latest Crypto News

Strategy Pushes Back on MSCI’s Digital Asset Exclusion Proposal

SpaceX’s $300M Bitcoin Stack Puts Crypto Inside the World’s Biggest Planned IPO

Most Influential: Rushi Manche

Most Influential: The Lazarus Group

Most Influential: Pump.fun

Most Influential: Hayden Davis

Top Stories

Strategy Pushes Back on MSCI’s Digital Asset Exclusion Proposal

Eric Trump's American Bitcoin and Anthony Pompliano's ProCap Add to BTC Holdings

Telegram Ring Ran Pump-and-Dump Network That Netted $800K in a Month: Solidus Labs

Superstate Rolls Out Direct Stock Issuance for Public Companies on Ethereum, Solana

SpaceX’s $300M Bitcoin Stack Puts Crypto Inside the World’s Biggest Planned IPO

Bitcoin Volatility Is Still Compressing, Dimming Year-End Rally Outlook

Disclaimer: The articles reposted on this site are sourced from public platforms and are provided for informational purposes only. They do not necessarily reflect the views of MEXC. All rights remain with the original authors. If you believe any content infringes on third-party rights, please contact service@support.mexc.com for removal. MEXC makes no guarantees regarding the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of the content and is not responsible for any actions taken based on the information provided. The content does not constitute financial, legal, or other professional advice, nor should it be considered a recommendation or endorsement by MEXC.

You May Also Like

Shifting Tides in Bitcoin: New Challenges Emerge

Shifting Tides in Bitcoin: New Challenges Emerge

Recent developments in the Bitcoin market signal mounting pressures as capital inflows slow, and critical indicators shift. Data indicates that Bitcoin’s market
Share
Coinstats2026/02/11 02:05
We see a very good partnership with Venezuela

We see a very good partnership with Venezuela

The post We see a very good partnership with Venezuela appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. United States (US) Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that they can
Share
BitcoinEthereumNews2026/02/11 01:59
Golden Trump statue holding Bitcoin appears outside U.S. Capitol

Golden Trump statue holding Bitcoin appears outside U.S. Capitol

The post Golden Trump statue holding Bitcoin appears outside U.S. Capitol appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. A 12-foot golden statue of Trump gripping a Bitcoin was placed outside the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday evening in Washington. The installation appeared just before the Federal Reserve’s latest interest rate announcement. It stood along 3rd Street from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., pulling crowds as D.C. tried to make sense of a foam version of the president staring down Congress with a crypto in hand. At 2 p.m., the Fed cut its benchmark interest rate by 0.25 percentage points, bringing the short-term rate from 4.3% to 4.1%. It’s the first rate cut since December, after a year of concerns about slowing job growth and rising unemployment. The Fed also outlined plans for two more cuts before the end of this year, but said it only expects one cut in 2026. That didn’t sit well with Wall Street, which had priced in five cuts by next year, as Cryptopolitan extensively reported. Crypto organizers livestream token to support Trump statue The statue was funded by a group of cryptocurrency investors, most of whom are staying anonymous. Their goal was to make a loud, unavoidable point about the future of crypto and government power. Hichem Zaghdoudi, who spoke for the group, said: “The installation is designed to ignite conversation about the future of government-issued currency and is a symbol of the intersection between modern politics and financial innovation. As the Federal Reserve shapes economic policy, we hope this statue prompts reflection on cryptocurrency’s growing influence.” To push the message even further, the group launched a memecoin on Pump.fun. They used multiple livestreams to pump the token and tie it directly to the statue stunt. One organizer, speaking during a stream on Tuesday, said the statue was built using “extremely hard foam” to make it easier to move. Posts on their X account…
Share
BitcoinEthereumNews2025/09/18 15:20