5 hours ago
7 ARTICLE AD
Crypto CEO David Ballard has been released following his kidnapping earlier this week in central France. The news of Ballard’s release comes after a few days of confusion. Locals and the crypto community knew he’d been kidnapped, but were asked not to report the news for 48 hours while authorities attempted to rescue him.
The rescue, which authorities called a delicate operation, worked.
On Tuesday night, kidnappers grabbed Ballard in Vierzon, France. They ushered him into a car and took him to a secondary location. The group then reached out and demanded a large ransom in cryptocurrency for the CEO. The details of the exact ask aren’t public, but the French press and crypto blogs have said the number was high.
Authorities asked the press to keep a lid on the news of Ballard’s kidnapping for two days while it worked to free him. This led to some initial confusion and reporting in the hours after the kidnapping. A lot of people knew something had happened and a rumor circulated that Ledger SAS co-founder Eric Larchevêque had been kidnapped. Crypto outlets then circulated the rumor that Larchevêque had been kidnapped and had to retract their stories when Ledger SAS issued a denial.
On Thursday morning, a little less than 48 hours after Ballard was taken, authorities in Paris said he’d been rescued. The French cops were light on details but said that Ballard was safe and being seen by medical professionals. The investigation into who kidnapped him is ongoing.
🔴 OFFICIAL
David Balland co-founder of @Ledger has been released, after being kidnapped on Tuesday
To avoid threatening the ongoing investigation, we had decided not to reveal anything about what had been happening in recent hours
But the Paris public prosecutor's office has…
— Grégory Raymond 🐳 (@gregory_raymond) January 23, 2025
Ballard is the head of Ledger SAS, a crypto startup that created a physical wallet for people to hold and transfer cryptocurrency. The wallets are physical objects, some the size of a credit card and some the size of a USB key, running a custom OS. The company bills them as a highly secure way to manage digital assets.
Kidnap and ransom schemes aren’t uncommon in the world of cryptocurrency. Its connection to the black and grey markets and perceived untraceability make it an attractive currency for criminals. And in markets with only semi-legal status, violence can get you a long way.
In 2024, a businessman was lured to Malaysia and forced to hand over a large Bitcoin ransom. A couple was kidnapped in Connecticut in October of last year in another alleged crypto ransom scheme. At the beginning of the year in France, people kidnapped the father of a wealthy Dubai-based crypto influencer and attempted to ransom him before getting caught by authorities.
Blockchain truly changes everything.
