Between Weekly Bitcoin Kidnappings & Exchange Scams, Best Wallet Protects You

Key Takeaways:

• Alena Vranova (SatoshiLabs founder) issues an alert about the increase in wrench attacks, abductions, and assaults against Bitcoiners.
• Centralized exchange leaks often allow open the door to wrench attacks, and a correlation between $BTC’s price and wrench attacks is becoming apparent.
• These attacks, especially CEX leaks, highlight the need for non-custodial wallet options like Best Wallet. It can protect your funds from most attacks that exchanges are vulnerable to.

Cryptocurrency, bastion of digital security and decentralization, is facing an alarming rise in physical attacks. Alena Vranova, founder of SatoshiLabs, delivered a stark warning at the Baltic Honeybadger 2025 conference:

Every week, there is a Bitcoiner, at least one in the world, who gets kidnapped, tortured, extorted, and sometimes even worse.

Alena Vranova

Alena’s quote instantly became headline news, highlighting a potential downside to Bitcoin investment. But are so-called ‘wrench attacks’ a natural part of Bitcoin ownership? Or do they highlight a weakness that can be overcome?

Wrench Attacks: Targeting More Than Bitcoin Whales

Wrench attacks – because they’re physical assaults, not simply hacks – are not only targeting high-profile or long-time investors. Some cases involve individuals with as little as $6K in crypto. Some victims have even been murdered for assets valued at $50K.

Vranova revealed that 2025 is poised to become the worst year yet, with crypto-related physical attacks already on track to double the number recorded in prior years. Wrench attacks aren’t new, however – they’ve been around more-or-less since the beginning, and they tend to grow more frequent as Bitcoin’s price rises.

How do crypto millionaires, who profit from secure blockchain transactions, fall victim to physical attacks? One major reason comes down to data leaks – particularly from centralized exchanges like Coinbase. 

Centralization Increases Vulnerability

Centralized platforms, bound by KYC regulations, have inadvertently made it easier for criminals to access home addresses and identifying details. To date, over 80M crypto user identities have been leaked, including 2.2M records with home addresses.

And while centralized exchanges obviously try to minimize the damage, there’s no guarantee they won’t happen again. 

Given the magnitude of the threat, Vranova urged the crypto community – from hobbyist investors to seasoned executives – to adopt tangible personal safety protocols. As the physical toll of cryptocurrency ownership grows, it’s important to safeguard more than just your digital assets.

Of course, there’s another option also – stop trusting centralized exchanges! While CEXs offer convenience and ease of use, the regulatory requirements for AML and KYC mandate that vast amounts of user data be collected and stored. The end result is a tempting target for hackers and a way for bad actors to sniff out real-world Bitcoiners.

One alternative to get away from custodial options and relying on a non-custodial wallet like Best Wallet. 

Best Wallet Token ($BEST) – Your Keys, Your Crypto, Your Data

Best Wallet provides a safe, secure way to store, save, and swap your crypto. Even better, Best Wallet is fully non-custodial. By using multi-party-computation, your private keys are always secure and you – not Best Wallet – control your crypto.

The Best Wallet Token ($BEST) improves core Best Wallet features. Hold $BEST, and you’ll get cheaper transactions, better staking yields, and curated access to the best crypto presales.

People use CEXs, despite the risks, because of the convenience. Best Wallet capitalizes on that by offering an ever-growing, seamless suite of tools. In addition to Best Wallet and $BEST, an upcoming Best Card will make it easier (and safer) than ever to spend your crypto.

Other features of Best Wallet include:

• Multi-chain support: Bitcoin, Ethereum, BNB Smartchain, and Polygon already supported with 50 more on the way
• Cross-chain architecture: 90 blockchains, 330 DEXs, and 30 bridges – an interconnected crypto economy
• Biometric security: Fireblocks MPC tech to create biometric-secured cloud backups for your wallets – no seed phrase vulnerability

The Best Wallet Token presale has raised over $14.6M, and there’s more on the way. With tokens priced at only $0.025465, investors are still pouring into the project.

Visit the $BEST presale today to learn more.

Crypto Risks Make Non-Custodial Wallets Necessary

The risks of growing crypto adoption extend beyond the digital realm. Wrench attacks are growing in popularity – and will continue to be part of the crypto world as Bitcoin’s price goes ever-higher.

Best Wallet offers a non-custodial, security-first alternative that keeps your private keys – and your personal information – safe from prying eyes, combining convenience, advanced multi-chain support, and robust MPC technology.

As always, do your own research; this isn’t financial advice.