Co-founder of major crypto company Ledger reportedly kidnapped in France

This year has already seen multiple assaults on cryptoasset owners. The latest warning sign once again comes from France, where a co-founder of a major crypto company has reportedly been kidnapped.

According to yet unconfirmed reports by local media, police are already investigating the kidnapping of David Balland, co-founder of the French company Ledger, in Vierzon, a commune in the Cher department.

The police are searching premises and even broke into one of the buildings in an attempt to find the kidnapped person, Le Berry Républicain reported.

Previous speculations on social media alleged that the kidnapped man was Eric Larchevêque, another co-founder of Ledger; however, it was later confirmed that he was safe.

Meanwhile, there are no official statements from Ledger itself.

"Lots of unconfirmed rumors swirling that a Ledger co-founder/executive was kidnapped for ransom. We have no reliable info on what has transpired, though Ledger's silence makes my spidey sense tingle," Bitcoin security expert and co-founder of BTC custody solutions provider Casa, Jameson Lopp, said on X.

Ledger is the largest bitcoin (BTC) and crypto hardware wallet manufacturer. In 2023, the company was valued at around $1.4 billion after raising $109 million.

Kidnappings of cryptoasset owners are becoming increasingly frequent. As reported by Cybernews, several attacks have already occurred this year alone. At least one of them was also registered in France, where a 56-year-old father of a crypto influencer was kidnapped in an attempt to demand ransom. However, the criminals didn’t succeed as the police managed to find the kidnapped man.

Per a public database of physical attacks in the crypto world, in the first three weeks of this year, six cases involving kidnapping or robbery were registered. If the kidnapping of Balland is confirmed, it would be the seventh case. For comparison, during the whole of 2024, 22 cases were registered in total.