Coinbase, Circle, and Robinhood are spending millions to ensure the security of their top executives as crypto becomes mainstream and criminals begin targeting crypto millionaires. The recent wave of kidnappings in France has heightened the interest of crypto holders in personal security options.

Crypto Firms Increase Personal Security Spending Amid Kidnapping Wave

The cryptocurrency ecosystem is becoming increasingly dangerous for individuals who are publicly known to hold significant fortunes in digital assets. Leading firms are already addressing these concerns, having spent millions to secure their executives from such incidents.

Filings show that Coinbase invested over $6 million in the security of Brian Armstrong, its co-founder and CEO, in 2024. Similarly, Circle reported $800,000 in security expenses for its CEO, Jeremy Allaire, while trading platform Robinhood has spent $1.6 million to secure its co-founder and CEO, Vlad Tenev.

But the current wave of kidnappings in France, which has affected several crypto moguls, including Ledger co-founder David Balland and the daughter of the CEO of Paymium, a French crypto exchange, has shaken less privileged crypto holders too.

Bloomberg reported that Jethro Pijlman, managing director at Infinite Risks International, a firm that provides personal security solutions to crypto holders in Amsterdam, has noted a rise in inquiries about this kind of service.

He declared:

We’ve had more inquiries, more long-term clients, and more proactive requests from crypto investors who don’t want to be caught off guard. They’re realizing that intelligent security measures are part of the cost of doing business at this level.

The recent data leak affecting 1% of Coinbase’s customers, where names, addresses, ID scans, transactions, and balances were delivered to threat actors, might also exacerbate the demand for these services.

Analysts recommend that cryptocurrency holders avoid revealing their crypto affiliations to reduce the risk of becoming victims of physical attacks. Nonetheless, the number of these crimes is likely to continue increasing due to the characteristics of tokens and blockchain technology.

“Cryptocurrency can be transferred with just a private key, and is extremely difficult to recover. This makes crypto traders prime targets for criminals,” assessed Ronghui Gu, co-founder of crypto security firm Certik.

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