What happened
Laurent Nuñez, France's Interior Minister, said Wednesday that Paris will roll out a 'more ambitious' three-part plan to reinforce security around the French crypto sector, CoinTelegraph reported. The move follows a running count of 77 physical attacks tied to crypto holdings in the country, a figure that includes wrench attacks, home invasions, kidnappings, and attempted abductions of executives, traders, and their families.
Nuñez framed the plan around three pillars: closer coordination with crypto firms and industry associations, a sharper policing and investigative response, and dedicated protection measures for individuals identified as high-risk. The minister did not publish the plan's operational detail on Wednesday and did not name specific firms or suspects. France's response comes after a string of high-profile incidents in Paris and the Paris region earlier in 2026, including the abduction of a Ledger co-founder in 2025 that first pushed the issue onto the national security agenda.
Why it matters
For the first time, the French state is signalling that crypto-related violence is a policy problem, not a private security one. That's a real shift. Wrench attacks, where an attacker forces a victim to transfer coins under physical threat, have been an on-and-off feature of crypto since at least 2018, but 77 recorded cases in a single jurisdiction is the kind of number that forces a government response.
The context matters. France hosts Ledger, one of the world's largest hardware-wallet makers, plus a growing cluster of exchanges and custodians registered under the PSAN regime, soon to migrate to MiCA authorisation. Executives at those firms are among the most identifiable crypto holders in Europe.