“A ticking time bomb,“ said Alexandre Stachtchenko, director of strategy at French platform Paymium, referring to the way information must now be collected during cryptocurrency transfers under EU rules.
“If there is a leak of one of these databases from which I can find out who has money and where they live, then the next day it is on the dark web, and the day after there is someone outside your home,“ Stachtchenko said.
Instead of paying up, Coinbase informed US regulators about the theft and made plans to spend between $180 million and $400 million to reimburse victims and handle the situation.
Following the kidnapping attempt, Paymium issued a statement urging authorities to immediately reinforce the protection of companies within the sector, after other similar incidents this year.
It added: “With the unprecedented organisation of massive and sometimes disproportionate collection of personal data, public authorities contribute to putting the physical safety of millions of cryptocurrency holders in France, and more widely in Europe, at risk.”
The rules now require platforms to gather details about the beneficiary and, in return, transmit certain information about the customer to the receiving institution, including their name and postal address.
Such sensitive data is sometimes exchanged and stored insecurely by certain players.
'Nouveau riche'
In 2027, European anti-money laundering regulations will restrict the use of wallets and cryptocurrencies that allow the holders to remain anonymous.
There are many “legitimate interests” in having such tools however, said cybersecurity expert Renaud Lifchitz.
The debate is more “political” than “security-related”, argued O’Rorke.
Since 2014, software developer Jameson Lopp has recorded 219 physical attacks targeting cryptocurrency users.
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