Lopp’s Archive of Crypto Holder Attacks Tops 700 Known Cases

Jameson Lopp’s public archive of physical attacks against Bitcoin (BTC) and other crypto holders now contains more than 700 known cases, expanding the historical record without establishing a rise over any defined period.

Lopp said Oct. 16 that the archive had “just doubled the total number of known attacks to over 700.” The statement describes a larger documented archive; it does not show that attacks doubled during a particular period.

A separate public record covers 669 cases in 72 countries from Jan. 1, 2020, through Oct. 11, 2026. It contains 1,104 source links. Of the 669 cases, 375 were absent from the Lopp list used for comparison.

An Oct. 11 update added 38 cases in 16 countries. Eight occurred since the previous release, while 30 were older incidents added after further searches. The update merged 33 duplicate records and removed three cases after review, including entries deemed staged or outside the record’s scope.

In the 669-case record, 429 cases involved someone being held against their will, 288 involved an injury and 36 involved at least one death. Reported amounts totaled $432 million across 442 cases with a reported figure.

The collections cover physical coercion connected to attempts to obtain wallet keys or force crypto transfers. Examples include kidnappings, home invasions, assaults and robberies during in-person trades. The separate record excludes purely digital attacks such as hacking and phishing.

Lopp’s archive dates to Dec. 29, 2014, while the separate record begins Jan. 1, 2020, so their totals cover different time windows. Neither collection is a complete global count: many attacks are never publicly reported, and media coverage affects which incidents researchers can find.