The Death That Should Change How We Think About Safety

A few days ago, a story came out of Latin America that made me stop and think. A crypto fund manager, let's call him Harry, was found at the base of his luxury villa. He was naked, with a black plastic bag over his body.

Harry's CV was serious. Born in Hong Kong, he moved to Canada as a child, studied electrical engineering at Berkeley, and earned an MBA from Stanford. When Bitcoin was still around $60, he spent $500 on his first coins. Later he launched his own fund with $250,000 and built it into more than $2.4 billion in managed assets.

When police arrived, they found his apartment ransacked, with several knives inside. His girlfriend lived one floor below in the same building. So far there is no official conclusion: suicide, murder, or accident. The investigation is still open.

A Pattern We Can No Longer Ignore

Harry is not an isolated case. Look back a few years and you see a trail of crypto people dying in strange or violent ways. In 2020, the founder of a multinational exchange died suddenly, taking cold wallet keys with him. Those wallets remain unopened. In 2021, a Bitcoin-focused businessman drowned in an accident in Costa Rica. In 2022, a co-founder of MakerDAO was found dead in the ocean shortly after posting troubling messages. The same year, an investor known as Crypto King was kidnapped for three days and tortured for a password.

Then the violence escalated. In 2024, a Montreal crypto figure was kidnapped and murdered, found with his hands bound. In 2025, things got even darker. In New York, an Italian entrepreneur was held in his own home, tortured, and left by the trash, all for a seed phrase. The same year, a group of Russian crypto entrepreneurs were lured to a fake meeting, kidnapped, and forced to transfer funds.

The numbers are hard to look at. In the first half of the year alone, there were more than 50 documented wrench attacks globally. Across the whole year, the cases I can verify reach over 300, spread across more than 50 countries and regions. Over 100 were kidnappings, nearly 70 were assaults, and at least 17 were home invasions. Total losses exceed $650 million. France, the United States, and the United Kingdom are the biggest hotspots, followed by Thailand, Hong Kong, and Spain.

  • Over 300 documented physical attacks on crypto holders this year
  • More than 100 kidnappings and nearly 70 assaults
  • Around 40% of cases target family members, not the holder
  • Total losses above $650 million across 50+ countries

Even the Best Hardware Wallet Has Limits

Some people think this is only about criminal hackers, but there is another front: technical security itself. A while ago, the big story was the Coldcard incident. Coldcard has been marketed as one of the most secure hardware wallets, aimed at people who want maximum protection for their seed phrase. Then it had a security failure.

We still don't know exactly what happened: a flaw in the company's own technology, an insider, or a targeted attack from an outside team. Honestly, it does not matter. The result is the same. Even a device that was treated like a gold standard for self-custody turned out to be not absolutely safe.

That incident should push us to widen our definition of security while keeping self-custody.

Three Layers of Security, Not One

When most of us started in crypto, we repeated the same mantras: hold your own keys, keep your seed phrase offline, don't click suspicious links, stay away from centralized exchanges. That advice was enough ten years ago. Today it is only the first step.

I now think about security in three layers. The first is digital security: protecting against hackers, phishing, and malware. The second is operational security: protecting against exchanges, insiders, and counterparties who can freeze or misuse your assets. The third is personal security: protecting yourself from anyone who knows you have money, knows where you live, and is willing to use force.

If you cover only one or two of these layers, you are not really safe. The old phrase 'not your keys, not your coins' needs an update. Holding your keys is not enough if someone can find you and put a wrench in your hand. If other people know where your seed phrase is, you have already handed them part of your keys.

My Own Rules for Staying Invisible

People ask me: you show your face on camera and talk about crypto, aren't you afraid? Honestly, yes. I am very afraid. That fear is exactly why I set strict rules for myself. I never share exact portfolio numbers, percentages, or amounts. I talk about macro views and analysis, never my positions. I do not reveal where I live, when I go out, or who I am with. If I post stories, I post them delayed. I do not keep real-time location on. The number of people who know my actual net worth is very small. Even friends I have worked with for years often do not know the details. These rules are not complicated. Anyone can use them. The hard part is fighting the human instinct to show wealth. When you have money, you naturally want others to know. That instinct is the most dangerous thing you own.

The Real Price of Freedom

Harry's story, from buying Bitcoin at $60 to managing $2.4 billion, ends with a naked body on the ground outside his own home. That contrast is the cruelest metaphor this industry has given us. The wealth you build in the digital world can become physical risk in the real world.

I still believe in Bitcoin and decentralized money. I believe this technology can give ordinary people real financial freedom. But the cost of that freedom is now clearer than ever. You need to understand technology, yes. You also need to understand human nature, and you need to learn how to hide yourself in a world that rewards visibility.

I will update you if new information comes out about Harry's case. For now, let this be a reminder: protecting your seed phrase matters. Protecting your operational security matters. And protecting the fact that you even have a seed phrase may matter most of all.