David Balland, co-founder of cryptocurrency company Ledger, released after being kidnapped

The entrepreneur was kidnapped on Tuesday January 21 in the early morning from his home in Cher. He was released on Wednesday January 22.

The Paris prosecutor's office announces the release of David Balland, the co-founder of the cryptocurrency company Ledger. The entrepreneur was kidnapped on Tuesday January 21 in the early morning from his home in Cher, then released the next day.

“The victim was taken by her captors in a car and driven to another address, where she was sequestered,” details the Paris prosecutor’s office.

David Balland was released on Wednesday January 22 after an operation carried out by the national gendarmerie “as a whole”. The co-founder of the company was taken in by emergency services, “requiring treatment”.

A ransom demand

The investigations, which began under the direction of the Bourges public prosecutor's office, are being carried out for “kidnapping and sequestration by a gang organized to obtain the execution of a condition”, reports the Paris public prosecutor's office.

The criminals behind the kidnapping of David Balland have in fact “demanded the payment of a large ransom in cryptocurrency”. The operation “continues to mobilize investigators” to “identify and arrest all the perpetrators of this crime”.

Ledger is one of the most influential companies in the cryptocurrency world. Founded in 2014 by two French people, Éric Larchevêque and Thomas France, it makes it possible to secure the holding of cryptocurrencies: Ledger in fact offers its users physical wallets, holding the codes allowing access to the cryptocurrencies held.

Most of the time, holders go through platforms – like Binance or FTX, before the latter's bankruptcy – to store their cryptos. They are then at the mercy of a possible failure of this exchange platform. Ledger offers the possibility of keeping your cryptos in your own wallet. By the end of 2023, Ledger secured 20% of all cryptocurrency assets and 30% of NFTs worldwide.