French Crypto Exec Freed After Being Held for Ransom in Wild Kidnapping Drama!

So, here’s a plot twist you didn’t see coming: David Balland, one of the masterminds behind Ledger (yep, the cool French company that makes cryptocurrency wallets), has just been freed from a kidnapping ordeal. Hold your horses, though—this wasn’t a plot straight out of a heist movie, even though it might as well have been. Apparently, some lovely people decided to kidnap him from his home in central France in the dead of night on January 21. A police rescue mission followed less than 24 hours later. Talk about a dramatic 24 hours!

And get this: the criminals demanded a ransom… in cryptocurrency. Can you imagine? “Please send 100 Bitcoin to this address and we’ll release him”—as if they were running some sort of shady e-commerce site. All in a day’s work in the wild world of crypto, right?

In case you’re wondering, Ledger wasn’t just made up by Balland and his team for funsies—they’ve been around since 2014, making sure your precious private keys are offline, away from the cyber gremlins lurking in the shadows. At this point, they’ve raised 100 million euros (around $109 million, in case you’re doing the conversion math) and now have a cool $1.42 billion valuation. Pretty impressive, right?

But wait, there’s more! They’re also a massive employer, with about 700 people on the payroll. Not too shabby, considering their headquarters is in Vierzon, France. But hey, what’s even more important is that Balland is recovering and getting the medical attention he probably really needs after this whole ordeal. 😬

As for the criminals? Oh, they’re not exactly alone in this whole “crypto crime” thing. Ransomware gangs were responsible for over $1.1 billion in crypto payments last year, according to Chainalysis. So, Balland wasn’t exactly the only one on their radar. (Don’t worry, I’m sure they don’t all wear black hats and laugh maniacally… or maybe they do, who knows?)

Crypto Community Reacts (Well, Sort Of)

As you can imagine, the crypto world had a few things to say about all of this. First, former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao made a quick cameo on social media to “express concern” (I mean, who wouldn’t?), but then deleted the tweet, like the true crypto drama king he is. Zhao, who clearly didn’t have the full story, also admitted he was unsure of what was actually going on. Classic move.

And then there was Jameson Lopp, co-founder of Casa (you know, the self-custody service), who was playing detective on Twitter. He was like, “Yeah, there are rumors, but we don’t have reliable info. But Ledger’s silence? That’s got my spidey senses tingling.” Mmmm, intrigue.

Ledger’s Product Line (Because, Why Not?)

Now, let’s talk about Ledger’s actual products, because—spoiler alert—they’re not just making headlines for kidnapping drama. Their Nano series wallets are their top sellers (fancy that), but they’ve also been dabbling in high-end touchscreen devices like Ledger Flex and Ledger Stax for those who are all about self-sovereignty and financial freedom. (You know, the folks who want to keep their digital wealth locked up tighter than a safe.)

Oh, and in case you’re wondering: as of 2024, they’ve sold over 7 million hardware wallets. And guess what? None of them have been hacked. So, maybe there’s something to that whole ‘security’ thing they keep talking about. 🤔

But wait, here’s the kicker—CryptoMoon tried reaching out to Ledger for a comment, but… yeah, crickets. Guess they were too busy dealing with, you know, the aftermath of a kidnapping and all that. No biggie.

2025-01-23 16:20

Crypto Community Reacts (Well, Sort Of)

Ledger’s Product Line (Because, Why Not?)

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