Within days of each other, courts in China, the UK and Morocco handed down significant sentences to criminals involved in physical cryptocurrency crimes.
While efforts continue to make the cryptocurrency industry safer online, law enforcement officials globally are also cracking down on physical cryptocurrency crimes known as key attacks.
Will China punish cryptocurrency theft?
A court in Fuzhou, China, sentenced a man named Lin to 12 years and seven months in prison for stealing four bitcoins from an acquaintance he hired to liquidate properties.
The theft occurred in late 2020 when a man named Wang asked Lin for help converting his bitcoin into cash. After Lin was given access to Wang’s hardware wallet and laptop, he copied the private keys, transferred all four coins to his own wallet, and sold them for approximately 900,000 yuan, about $124,000 at the time.
Wang discovered the theft in 2024 and Lin was arrested soon after.
The Cangshan District Court convicted Lin of theft and imposed a fine of 300,000 yuan in addition to a prison sentence. soft call The Fuzhou Intermediate People’s Court has now rejected this ruling and upheld the ruling.
The fact that China does not recognize cryptocurrency as legal tender did not protect Lin from prosecution, because under Chinese criminal law, as something that can be possessed and transferred and has measurable value, bitcoin is considered property.
How common are physical cryptocurrency attacks in Europe?
Cryptopolitan I mentioned previously France alone recorded at least 19 key attacks in 2025, and six more in early 2026. The use of cold storages protects against remote hacking, but offers no defense against anyone gaining physical access to a seed phrase, whether through stealth, burglary or violence.
In a recent case, a 36-year-old city worker in Hertfordshire was a craftsman Attacked with soreness Before more than £10,000 was drained from his bank and cryptocurrency accounts. Four men received prison sentences at St Albans Crown Court in connection with the crime.
The men befriended the victim during a night out in Shoreditch, then forced him to return to his home, where they beat him with a wrench and knocked him unconscious. They used facial verification to unlock his accounts while he was incapacitated and left him for his partner to find him the next morning with serious facial injuries.
Police only began their investigation after Coinbase reported unusual activity on the victim’s account.
Jason Crim, 23, was given the longest sentence of six years and six months, which includes 18 consecutive months for violating the previous suspended sentences. Jerome Denton (39 years old) was sentenced to six years in prison. Brandon Stevenson, 25, received five years and six months. Royan Campbell, 20, was sentenced to three years and six months.
A fifth defendant, Rayshaun Kenna, 20, was found guilty of money laundering and sentenced to a two-year community order with 150 days of unpaid work and to pay compensation of £500.
Cryptopolitan I mentioned previously About the sentencing of 25-year-old Mohamed Hamid Bajou in Morocco. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison for organizing a series of kidnappings targeting wealthy cryptocurrency owners in France.
One of Pageau’s most prominent alleged victims was David Baland, co-founder of hardware wallet maker Ledger, who was kidnapped from his home in central France in January 2025 along with his accomplice. The attackers demanded 10 million euros and cut off one of Balland’s fingers before the French police intervened.
During the trial, Bajo denied his involvement in the kidnappings and claimed that he was living on his grandfather’s farm in Morocco. However, investigators were able to directly link him to the kidnappings through the seized letters.
The Court of Appeal in Tangier, Morocco, ordered Bago to pay one million Moroccan dirhams (about $110,000) to each identified victim.
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