Knock knock: home invasions now the #1 crypto wrench attack, CertiK reports 🔑

Home invasions overtook all other forms of crypto wrench attacks in the first half of 2026, rising to 20 publicly reported incidents from just one a year earlier, according to blockchain security firm CertiK. On Thursday, CertiK said it verified 52 wrench attacks worldwide in H1 2026, up 33.3% from 39 incidents in the same period of 2025. Kidnappings increased to 16 from 12, while robberies declined from five incidents to one. CertiK put the recorded financial exposure linked to the attacks at approximately $124.1 million, up from $10.5 million a year earlier, noting the figure may include ransom demands, victim transfers, frozen or recovered assets and failed demands, not solely confirmed thefts.

Europe accounted for 39 of the 52 verified incidents, with France alone accounting for 33, or nearly two-thirds of the global total. CertiK said it used a narrower methodology than French authorities, counting only publicly reported incidents it could independently verify. On July 2, French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said authorities had recorded 77 crypto-linked kidnappings, extortion cases or attempted extortion cases during the first half of 2026, up from 45 in the entire year of 2025. CertiK said the concentration may reflect France's more visible crypto ecosystem, where data breaches and information tying identities and home addresses to perceived crypto wealth are more readily available.

French authorities have launched a dedicated prevention platform and a rapid-alert system for crypto holders and professionals, and Nuñez said emergency measures have resulted in 200 arrests. CertiK said the rise in physical coercion challenges conventional self-custody advice and recommended multisignature or multiparty computation arrangements, withdrawal delays, spending limits and geographically separated signers so that one threatened person cannot immediately release all available assets.