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The co-founder of cryptocurrency start-up Ledger has been freed after being kidnapped in central France.
Assailants took David Balland and his wife from their home in the department of Cher in the early hours of Tuesday, according to the Paris prosecutors.
The couple were separated, and the kidnappers demanded a large ransom payment in crypto from another Ledger co-founder.
The national police and the GIGN, an elite group from the French gendarmerie that specialises in high-risk operations, initially negotiated with the attackers, Paris prosecutor Laure Beccuau said at a press conference on Thursday evening.
Police later pinpointed Balland’s location, freed him, and arrested several assailants. His wife was found hours later.
“Part of the ransom has been paid. Almost all of it has been traced, frozen and seized,” said Beccuau, who did not give details about the amount.
A total of 10 people have been arrested: nine men and one woman between the ages of 20 and 40.
Beccuau said an investigation would continue to ensure that all involved in the kidnapping were found and arrested, including whomever ordered it.
Ledger was founded in Paris in 2014 and sells hardware devices to help traders securely store their cryptocurrencies.
The product resembles a USB drive with security built in to ensure that only the owner can access the crypto accounts.
Ledger was valued at €1.3bn in 2023 after raising about €100mn from investors including Singapore’s True Global Ventures. In November Tony Fadell, inventor of Apple’s iPod, joined Ledger’s board.
“We are deeply relieved that David and his wife have been released, and are now safe,” said Pascal Gauthier, chief executive of Ledger.
“We’re grateful to law enforcement for their swift action,” he added, saying it was “a traumatic situation that we hope will never be repeated”.
Balland’s kidnap marks the latest crypto-related executive abduction, and comes as bitcoin has soared to record highs following the US presidential election victory of Donald Trump, who has championed the crypto industry.
In September Nick Drakon resigned as head of US crypto research company Revelo Intel after being forced at gunpoint to transfer crypto funds to his attackers.
“If you are someone who is known to control large sums of money, you are a target and it is not difficult at all to get to you,” Drakon said at the time.
Clients of crypto exchange Binance were lured in 2023 on a business trip to Montenegro and forced to hand over $12.5mn from their crypto wallets, then chief executive Changpeng Zhao said at the time.
In 2017, another crypto executive, Pavel Lerner, was kidnapped in Kyiv and released after paying a ransom of more than $1mn in bitcoin, according to an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister.
Balland co-founded Ledger but had not worked there since 2021, the company said.
More recently he created a virtual reality start-up based in the small city of Vierzon, about 200km south of Paris, where he worked and lived.
Prosecutors said Balland was taken to a hospital for treatment after his release, but did not give further details.
The crime of kidnapping and asking for a ransom as part of a criminal gang carries a maximum life sentence in France.
