UK Trader Claims Knifepoint Crypto Theft of Nearly $800K

A UK crypto trader using the pseudonym “realist” on X claims armed intruders broke into his home, held him at knifepoint, destroyed his phone, and forced transfers of roughly $40,000 from a hot wallet and $720,000 from a Ledger wallet. The trader shared a Solana wallet address on Solscan to back the account, but police or other authorities have not confirmed the incident, CoinDesk reports.

“If you live in the U.K. and do crypto get the f**k out,” he posted.

Wrench attacks are moving up the threat list

So-called wrench attacks use violence or threats to force crypto holders to surrender assets, bypassing digital security. Chainalysis estimates criminals stole more than $30 million through violent attacks in the first half of 2026. Home invasions accounted for 37% of recorded incidents, up from 14% a year earlier.

France is a hotspot: Chainalysis documented at least 30 recorded incidents there in the first half of the year. Blockchain security firm Certik identified 52 verified attacks globally in that period, 33 of them in France.

UK has seen this before

CoinDesk notes a similar UK robbery last December, where masked attackers beat a cryptocurrency investor with hammers and threatened to kill his pregnant wife unless he transferred hundreds of thousands of pounds in crypto.

The takeaway: No individual technical safeguard, including self-custody or hardware wallets, can eliminate the threat of violence.