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The co-founder of crypto start-up Ledger has been freed after being kidnapped in central France.
The Paris prosecutor said police were still investigating the incident, which began when assailants took David Balland from his home in the department of Cher in the early hours of Tuesday.
“The victim was taken by his kidnappers in a car and driven to another address, where he was held captive,” prosecutors said in a statement, adding that work by the national and local police had “led to [his] release” on Thursday.
“The criminals demanded the payment of a significant ransom in cryptocurrency,” the prosecutors added.
No further details were given about the police operation, nor the suspects involved.
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.
The company 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.
Balland’s kidnap marks the latest crypto-related executive abduction, and comes as bitcoin has soared to record highs following the US 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 has not worked there since 2021, Ledger 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 GIGN, an elite group from the French gendarmerie that specialises in hostage rescue and high-risk operations, joined national police during the operation.
The crime in France of kidnapping and asking for ransom as part of a criminal gang carries a maximum life sentence.
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