Cybersecurity
Blockchain and Digital Assets
Matt Green
May 2025
Director and Head of Blockchain and Digital Assets, Matt Green, comments on the recent series of attempted kidnappings of crypto entrepreneurs and discusses how to best protect assets stored on the blockchain, in The Next Web.
Matt’s comments were published in The Next Web, 29 May 2025, and can be found here.
“Despite the industry pining for decentralisation, much of the data points towards identifiable individuals with either massive wealth or access to third parties’ wealth. Simple blockchain analytics openly identifies addresses holding fortunes, and once those addresses are associated with named individuals (data triaging and clustering can unmask a pseudonymised address), then criminals can see very clearly that a person holds significant wealth. Imagine your bank balances are posted online and through analysing open source data, the world can see it’s your account.
“In terms of crypto holders, the only thing stopping criminals gaining access is human error or force so kidnapping aims to break down the integrity of that human led security.
“The nature of blockchains means balances and addresses are public. In the same way van stickers read “no tools are kept in this vehicle”, it might be worth making a conscious effort to show a single person under duress is incapable of giving access to crypto holdings. Having clear statements about Multi-Sigs (Multi-Signature wallets) would likely deter kidnappers, who would have to pursue multiple individuals to make gains.”
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