{"id":2441311,"date":"2025-05-31T15:19:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-31T19:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-wrench-attacks-on-wealthy-crypto-holders-are-on-the-rise-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-05-31T15:21:40","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T19:21:40","slug":"why-wrench-attacks-on-wealthy-crypto-holders-are-on-the-rise-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/why-wrench-attacks-on-wealthy-crypto-holders-are-on-the-rise-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Why \u2018wrench attacks\u2019 on wealthy crypto holders are on the rise &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhy-wrench-attacks-on-wealthy-crypto-holders-are-on-the-rise-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2441311&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article discusses the rising phenomenon of &#8220;wrench attacks,&#8221; a violent tactic used by thieves targeting wealthy cryptocurrency holders. This surge has been highlighted by a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/justice-stephen-breyer-weighs-in-on-his-potential-retirement\/\" title=\"Justice Stephen Breyer Weighs In On His Potential Retirement\">recent high-profile case<\/a> in New york, where an Italian man reported being kidnapped and tortured for his bitcoin. The term &#8220;wrench attack&#8221; originates from a comic that humorously illustrates how physical violence can <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >easily compromise high-tech security measures<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Experts attribute the increase in such attacks to the mainstream adoption of cryptocurrencies, as criminal organizations familiar with violence have begun to exploit the lax security surrounding crypto assets. unlike traditional bank accounts, cryptocurrencies allow users full control without intermediaries, making them more vulnerable to physical theft.<\/p>\n<p>The nature of cryptocurrency, where transactions are irreversible and can be executed with a few clicks, further exacerbates the risk. while methods like storing private keys in &#8220;cold wallets&#8221; can protect against hacking, they offer no defense against coercion. The article also notes that many wealthy crypto holders attempt to remain anonymous online to mitigate risks.<\/p>\n<p>To combat the threat of wrench attacks, experts suggest using wallets that require multiple approvals for transactions and advocate for maintaining a low profile in social media interactions.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Why &lsquo;wrench attacks&rsquo; on wealthy crypto holders are on the rise<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2135771\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>The headline-grabbing tale of an Italian man who said he was kidnapped and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/new-york-city-kidnapping-cryptocurrency-16ccb88647944281ab6af10503d17eb5\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">tortured for weeks inside an upscale Manhattan townhouse<\/a>&nbsp;by captors seeking his bitcoin highlights a dark corner of the cryptocurrency world: the threat of violence by thieves seeking digital assets.<\/p>\n<p>The alleged attempted robbery is known as a &ldquo;wrench attack.&rdquo; It&rsquo;s a name popularized by an online&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/xkcd.com\/538\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">comic<\/a>&nbsp;that mocked how easily high-tech security can be undone by hitting someone with a wrench until they give up passwords.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3427735\/turmoil-worry-cuts-federal-agencies-hurricane-season\/\">Turmoil, worry swirl over cuts to key federal agencies as hurricane season begins<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3427736\/miss-atomic-bomb-mystery-man-who-solved-it\/\">Miss Atomic Bomb: The woman, the mystery and the man who solved it<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3427737\/river-dammed-swiss-landslide-flowing-again\/\">A river dammed by a huge Swiss landslide is flowing again. That&rsquo;s a relief to authorities<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Wrench attacks are on the rise thanks in part to cryptocurrency&rsquo;s move into mainstream finance, Phil Ariss of the crypto tracing firm TRM Labs said in a recent blog&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.trmlabs.com\/resources\/blog\/the-rise-of-wrench-attacks-and-crypto-related-violent-crime\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">post<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Criminal groups already comfortable with using violence to achieve their goals were always likely to migrate to crypto,&rdquo; Ariss said.<\/p>\n<p>Some of the crypto&rsquo;s key characteristics help explain why wealthy individuals who hold a lot of digital assets can be ripe targets for such attacks.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The draw<\/h2>\n<p>Cryptocurrencies like bitcoin offer traders full control of their funds without the need for a bank or permission from a government to buy, sell or hold it. The trade-off is that if funds are lost or stolen, there can be no way to get them back.<\/p>\n<p>Self-reliance is a key ethos of crypto. Securing and controlling one&rsquo;s private keys, which are like passwords used to access one&rsquo;s crypto holdings, is viewed as sacrosanct among many in the crypto community. A popular motto is &ldquo;not your keys, not your coins.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>Transactions on the blockchain, the technology that powers cryptocurrencies, are permanent. And unlike cash, jewelry, gold or other items of value, thieves don&rsquo;t need to carry around stolen crypto. With a few clicks, huge amounts of wealth can be transferred from one address to another.<\/p>\n<p>In the case in New York, where two people have been charged, a lot of details have yet to come out, including the value of the bitcoin the victim possessed.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Crypto thefts<\/h2>\n<p>Stealing cryptocurrency is almost as old as cryptocurrency itself, but it&rsquo;s usually done by hacking. North Korean state hackers alone are believed to have stolen billions of dollars&rsquo; worth of crypto in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>In response to the threat of hacking, holders of a large amount of crypto often try and keep their private keys off the internet and stored in what are called &ldquo;cold wallets.&rdquo; Used properly, such wallets can defeat even the most sophisticated and determined hackers.<\/p>\n<p>But they can&rsquo;t defeat thieves who force a victim to give up their password to access their wallets and move money.<\/p>\n<p>The case in New York is the latest in a string of high-profile wrench attacks. Several have taken place in France, where thieves cut off a crypto executive&rsquo;s finger.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/justice\/3312070\/lawsuits-targeting-trump-executive-orders\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\"><strong>HERE ARE THE LAWSUITS TARGETING TRUMP&rsquo;S EXECUTIVE ORDERS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mitigation<\/h2>\n<p>Experts suggest several ways to mitigate the threats of wrench attacks, including using wallets that require multiple approvals before any transactions.<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps the most common way crypto-wealthy individuals try to prevent wrench attacks is by trying to stay anonymous. Using nicknames and cartoon avatars in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sickening-video-shows-antifa-allegedly-stab-4-trump-supporters-in-washington-dc\/\" title=\"Sickening Video Shows Antifa Allegedly Stab 4 Trump Supporters in Washington DC\">social media accounts<\/a> is common in the crypto community, even among top executives at popular companies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2135771\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2135771\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Why &#8216;wrench attacks&#8217; on wealthy crypto holders are increasing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":136,"featured_media":2441312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Crime_Police_vb9.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[37117,56283,56284,56282],"class_list":["post-2441311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-crime-trends","tag-crypto-security","tag-wealthy-individuals","tag-wrench-attacks"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/Crime_Police_vb9.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2441311"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2441315,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2441311\/revisions\/2441315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2441312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2441311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2441311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2441311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}