Crypto Investor Charged with Kidnapping and Torturing Man for Weeks
54 comments
·May 25, 2025Aeolun
> Inside the home, the police found Polaroid pictures showing the man bound and being assaulted
Because of course. These people live in a world where nothing can touch them, least of all the law, so why wouldn’t you literally make your own evidence of your crime and leave it lying around.
0x38B
The most telling or disturbing thing I learned from a recent article posted here about the Crypto-related kidnappings was how criminals found some of their victims’ addresses and personal information in marketing data that companies kept on their customers.
mcintyre1994
The recent Coinbase leak is mostly stored KYC data AFAIK, so even if the company isn’t using it for marketing, they’re probably being forced to store data that they’re not responsible enough to protect.
canucker2016
NYC catching up to Paris - https://arstechnica.com/security/2025/05/we-have-reached-the...
frontfor
When the weakest link between the criminal and the cryptocurrency is a single person (the holder himself in this instance), that person alone would need to withstand all attacks and “rubber hose cryptanalysis”.
fallinditch
The most effective protection is a combination of discretion, strong security practices, and advanced wallet configurations like multisig and passphrase protection.
You could store passphrases in a hardware wallet in a bank vault in a small European country.
thebruce87m
> You could store passphrases in a hardware wallet in a bank vault in a small European country.
A little bit of irony here having to store your crypto related stuff at a bank to keep it safe.
grues-dinner
And in the "socialist" Big Government over-regulated hellscape of Europe no less.
I would have thought one of those libertarian seasteads or enclaves would be axiomatically the best place for such things?
defrost
Not all bank vaults are in banks, here's the basement of a prog rock musician and his wife's house (a former bank(?)) .. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CM6iqwcyC1A
Physical security for digital credentials is the main point here, that doesn't always imply a regular bank, many modern banks lack the bank vaults of yore in any case.
Tangentially, avoid showing up unannounced at grandparents house: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZZmFG07OVs
fortran77
That won’t stop you from being tortured. You need to make sure nobody knows you have cryptocurrency
smckk
Stay safe out there.
Personal and physical security for founders, operators, and investors
[0] https://a16zcrypto.com/posts/article/personal-physical-secur...
CyberMacGyver
Pretty rich coming from a16z, someone who famously rug pulled Solana investors.
Maybe there should be a version for investors to stay safe from a16z also
nailer
What’s the back story behind this?
rwmj
There was an article in the Atlantic about this (https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/05/extreme-pe...) mentioning crypto founders and whales who go to quite extraordinary lengths to keep their home addresses and other information private.
cperciva
This is part of why I designed Tarsnap to keep data as secure as possible, even from me. If someone stores their crypto keys -- or world domination^W optimization plans -- on Tarsnap, I don't want to get kidnapped and tortured by anyone trying to steal that data.
episteme
If torturing and kidnap are on the table, how does this help? They can torture you to give them the keys just like a password.
null
null
chistev
Who can access it?
brazzy
You really think the kind of people who do such things will read your website and just give up? "Aw shucks, he's using e2e encryption, no point trying anything"?
razemio
You missunderstood the comment. He can not access the data. You need to find the person who uploaded it, despite him hosting said data.
VTimofeenko
I think you misunderstood the comment. Or maybe I did.
My understanding: the rubberhose crypto-analysis, even if unsuccessful, will result in some major damage done. Determined attacker might try to apply it regardless of any online statements on the off chance that the statements are wrong.
brazzy
And you really think that people who routinely use torture to extract information, and for whom claims that "I don't know it!" is basically the standard obstacle to overcome, will just believe him without even trying, because it's "math" and therefore true?
The reality is, in the xkcd Rubberhose cryptanalysis scenario, being actually unable to give up the information is a MUCH WORSE situation to be be in than having a key to give up before they permanently maim/kill you. It might be better for a third party who benefits from the information remaining secret, but not for the person unable to divulge it.
But thinking you're safe because the attackers will read, understand, and believe your claims of uncompromisable cryptographic security is dangerously naive.
asjdhaskd83
[dead]
nikkwong
Had Satoshi known the impact his innovation would have had on the world, all said and done, I bet he would have chosen to keep it under covers.
superkuh
People have been kidnapping other people to force them to give up their valuables for millennia. It's far from a new or unique thing in this context.
anonymousiam
True, but crypto is easier to launder. I feel safer with my money at a brokerage or a bank.
null
echan00
If the title read 'human charged with kidnapping a d torturing a man' instead does that mean all humans are bad? I fail to see the linkage here
tux3
The whole point of the kidnapping and torture was to steal bit coin cryptocurrency.
Of course it's material to the story. It'd be conpletely artificial to pretend otherwise.
web3aj
This story is unreal.
strathmeyer
Great job score one for crypto holders who plan on not revealing their key under torture.
https://archive.is/JiYYY