French government gives crypto entrepreneurs priority police line
French crypto entrepreneurs will receive priority access to emergency police services and heightened security by the country’s government following a meeting with the country’s Interior Minister today.
Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau reportedly met with crypto industry players this morning and promised them security briefings from elite units, home security checks, privileged access to an emergency police line, and more “anti-crypto asset laundering training” in the force.
In his statement today, Retailleau said, “These repeated kidnappings of professionals in the crypto sector will be fought with specific tools, both immediate and short-term, to prevent, dissuade and hinder in order to protect the industry.”
The meeting was arranged this week to address the recent spate of crypto kidnappings. Just this week, the daughter and grandson of a crypto exchange CEO were almost kidnapped by four masked men on the streets of Paris in a bloody exchange.
Read more: French minister steps in to help stop crypto kidnappings
More recently, the leak of personal Coinbase user data has also raised concerns from various crypto proponents about its potential use by criminals to profile crypto investors for kidnapping and extortion.
Ledger co-founder Éric Larchevêque reportedly attended today’s meeting, and said that Retailleau has “understood what’s at stake,” and that the kidnappings have become a “real problem.”
He claims that in the last 12 months, 50 attacks have targeted crypto specialists, and 14 of those attacks took place in France. Ledger’s fellow co-founder was kidnapped in January while in France and was mutilated by his assailants.
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