Physical attacks targeting cryptocurrency holders increased by 75% year-on-year in 2025, causing losses exceeding $40.9 million.

PANews reported on February 2nd that, according to a recent report by blockchain security company CertiK, physical attacks (i.e., "violent attacks") against cryptocurrency holders surged in 2025, with 72 recorded incidents throughout the year, a 75% increase year-on-year, resulting in losses exceeding $40.9 million. The report states that these attacks have evolved from marginal risks to structural threats, with kidnapping becoming the most common method, and personal attacks surging by 250% year-on-year. The geographical distribution of attacks has changed significantly: Europe has become the hardest hit area, accounting for more than 40% of global incidents, with France leading the world with 19 incidents; the United States' share dropped sharply from 36.6% in 2024 to 12.5%; Asia still accounts for approximately 33.3% of high-risk areas.

CertiK recommends that individual users adopt defensive strategies such as setting up decoy wallets, geographically isolating mnemonic phrases from hardware wallets, and reducing public cryptocurrency footprints; while institutions and high-net-worth individuals should consider adopting multi-signature wallet architectures, setting up time-locked smart contracts, and developing executive protection agreements.