France recorded 77 cryptocurrency-related kidnapping or extortion cases in the first half of the year, according to a Thursday report from Chainalysis cited by Techub News. The figure already exceeds the 45 cases registered across all of 2025. Thirty of the cases were publicly known events. Separately, European Union regulators recently warned about impersonation scams in the cryptocurrency space. Cointelegraph reports that a French tax official is suspected of accessing and selling cryptocurrency investor information to criminals. In a separate incident, a data breach at crypto tax company Waltio exposed information on roughly 50,000 users. French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said the government has established a rapid alert and protection system. He also promised stronger intelligence sharing with the cryptocurrency industry. The details were reported by Techub News, which cited Cointelegraph. The full-year total for 2025 stood at 45 cases, according to the same Chainalysis data.

U.S. initial jobless claims for the week ended Aug. 1 came in at 199,000, below the 202,000 forecast. In Shenzhen, a company employee who stole confidential R&D folders and posed as an overseas hacker was sentenced after demanding BTC and USDT. The roundup also covers an increase in impersonation scams after the EU’s MiCA transition period ended, Circle’s renewed Coinbase deal, and a Chainalysis report on violent crypto theft cases.

An employee at a Shenzhen company has been sentenced to three years and three months in prison for attempted extortion, after stealing the firm's core research and development materials and posing as an overseas hacker to demand cryptocurrency, according to the Procuratorate Daily. Driven by pressure from more than 400,000 yuan in online loan debt, the employee demanded 0.88 bitcoin and 90,000 USDT as ransom from the company. A court also imposed a fine of 10,000 yuan.

China Business Journal said on July 29 that scammers have been impersonating its reporters in emails sent to companies through Proton Mail, claiming they possess damaging information and demanding payment in Bitcoin in exchange for not publishing a report. The newspaper said the scheme appears to rely on the credibility of an official media brand to make the threat look more believable. The publication, which is sponsored by the Institute of Industrial Economics under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said it is collecting evidence and reserves the right to pursue legal responsibility. It also advised recipients not to pay, to preserve all evidence, and to report the matter to police. No specific victims or amount involved have been disclosed so far. Techub carried the item and cited CryptoBriefing as the source.

Former LA County deputy Michael Coberg was sentenced to 63 months in prison and ordered to pay $127,000 for helping crypto founder Adam Iza carry out multiple extortion schemes.

FBI IC3 data shows 2025 crypto fraud losses reached $11.366 billion, up 22% from 2024; seniors aged 60+ lost $4.432 billion. Investment scams dominate with $7.277 billion in damages.

Kraken has officially filed for an IPO with a $13.3 billion valuation, down from a peak of $20 billion in late 2025. The exchange also obtained a Federal Reserve master account and received a $200 million investment from Deutsche Börse, while disclosing internal security breaches affecting 2,000 accounts.

France logged 77 crypto-linked kidnapping and extortion cases in 2026, up from 45 in 2025. Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced a security plan focusing on intelligence sharing, expert networks, and cross-border cooperation.