Physical attacks targeting cryptocurrency holders — the kind of coercive robberies often called “wrench attacks” — caused more than $30 million in losses during the first half of 2026, according to new data from blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis. Including attempted extractions that were blocked, frozen, or never paid out, the total value criminals attempted to steal through violence climbed to roughly $107 million.
That successful-theft figure is down sharply from 2025's full-year total of $58 million, and further still from 2024's $316 million in attempted extractions. But the decline in dollars stolen masks a shift in tactics: only 26% of attempts succeeded in H1 2026, down from 49% in 2025 and 67% in 2024, suggesting attackers are being thwarted more often even as the underlying activity hasn't necessarily slowed.
France stands out
France has recorded 30 publicly known wrench-attack incidents through mid-2026, with French authorities documenting more than 70 crypto-related violent incidents in total by late June, according to Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez. The country's numbers surged starting in 2025, when incidents jumped to 19 following a data breach at a French tax official's office that reportedly exposed information tied to crypto holders. The United States, Brazil and Thailand round out the countries with the most consistent incident counts, though none approach France's scale.
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How the attacks are changing
The composition of these crimes has shifted meaningfully since 2023. Home invasions rose from 26% of incidents to 37% by H1 2026, while kidnappings accounted for 52% of all incidents this year — figures that point to attackers increasingly targeting victims in their own homes or abducting them outright, rather than relying on street-level confrontations. That shift likely reflects both the difficulty of extracting crypto quickly under duress in public and the fact that home settings give attackers more time to coerce access to wallets and exchange accounts.
Why the theft total is falling anyway
The falling success rate suggests defensive measures — better wallet security practices, multi-signature setups, exchange fraud detection, and law enforcement response — are increasingly disrupting attacks even when they're attempted. But with attempted extractions still running close to $107 million for just half a year, the underlying incentive for attackers hasn't gone away: as long as crypto holdings are both valuable and, unlike a bank account, directly transferable under coercion with no intermediary able to freeze the transaction in time, holders with visible wealth remain a target regardless of how many attempts ultimately fail.
