Police probe escalating violence against crypto executives after brazen daylight assault
The daughter and grandson of prominent French cryptocurrency executive Pierre Noizat narrowly escaped a violent abduction attempt in Paris, police revealed, as a disturbing trend of targeted attacks against crypto figures continues to grip the French capital.
According to police sources who spoke to AFP, the attempted kidnapping took place in the city’s 11th district, where four masked assailants ambushed a couple and their child. All three sustained minor injuries and were promptly taken to hospital for treatment.
Surveillance footage reportedly captured the terrifying moment three of the attackers leapt from a van and tried to force the woman and her child into the vehicle. Her partner was assaulted while attempting to fend off the kidnappers.
In a dramatic act of resistance, the woman is said to have wrestled a handgun from one of the assailants and hurled it away. Her defiance, combined with the screams of the victims, ultimately drew the attention of passers-by, prompting the attackers to flee the scene.
The van used in the incident was later found abandoned nearby, police confirmed.
The woman at the centre of the ordeal has been identified as the daughter of Pierre Noizat, CEO and co-founder of Paymium, one of France’s earliest cryptocurrency exchange platforms.
This latest attack follows a string of violent incidents involving cryptocurrency entrepreneurs in France. In January, David Balland, co-founder of the digital asset security company Ledger, was kidnapped along with his partner. During the harrowing incident, Balland’s captors severed one of his fingers in an attempt to access his digital wallet. Authorities have since arrested at least nine suspects in connection with that case, including the alleged mastermind behind the abduction.
And just this month, police intervened in another kidnapping targeting the family of a crypto millionaire. Attackers abducted the victim’s father in a bid to extort a ransom from the wealthy son. A subsequent police raid resulted in the safe recovery of the hostage and the arrest of seven suspects.
French police are now intensifying efforts to address what appears to be a growing pattern of violent crime aimed at individuals tied to the lucrative and often opaque world of cryptocurrency. Investigators have not ruled out the possibility that an organised network could be behind the recent wave of assaults.
