A digital currency investor known as “Sillytuna” said attackers stole about $24 million in digital currency from him after threatening him with violence during an actual theft, in an incident that highlighted so-called “key attacks.”
“Key attacks” are a type of crime in the world of digital currencies that relies on threats or physical violence to force the victim to hand over their wallet keys or transfer their assets instead of technically hacking them.
The origin of the name comes from an old sarcastic idea in computer security, that breaking encryption can be very difficult, but the owner of the key can simply be hit with a monkey wrench (a mechanical tool) until they give you the password.
The victim explained in posts on the X platform that the attackers were armed and threatened to kidnap and assault him if he did not transfer control of his digital wallets.
He confirmed that British police were investigating the incident.
According to data from blockchain analytics platforms, the attackers seized approximately $23.6 million in “aEthUSDC” currency linked to the victim’s wallet.
Most of the funds were then quickly converted to other digital currencies and spread across multiple wallets.
The analysis indicates that approximately $20 million was converted into DAI and placed at two addresses on the Ethereum network, while $2.48 million was transferred to the Arbitrum network before being used to purchase the privacy coin Monero, making it more difficult to track. Around $1.1 million was also transferred to the Bitcoin network through the bridge service and possibly to currency mixing services.
The victim offered a 10% reward to recover any portion of the funds, even if the perpetrators returned them themselves, and asked trading platforms and blockchain investigators to help trace or freeze the assets.
The incident sparked swift action by the crypto community to trace the stolen funds.
Security researchers highlighted the use of the “Wagyu” service to transfer money to Monero, while the service’s developer explained that the platform does not generally freeze user funds, but was then able to monitor suspicious transactions and prevent further operations.
This incident comes amid a notable increase in physical coercion attacks against crypto investors. Prominent previous incidents include the kidnapping of Ledger co-founder David Baland in France in 2025, as well as an incident in which an American investor in London was drugged and robbed of approximately $122,000 in digital currency.
Read also:
US court drops terrorism financing charge against Binance in surprising decision!
Ethereum co-founder sends $157 million in ETH to Kraken
