In a series of alarming incidents, Bitcoin personalities in Sweden have been targeted by criminals exploiting the country's public access laws. The most recent attack occurred on Monday when a middle-aged couple was subjected to a home invasion by four masked men seeking their Bitcoin holdings. Using the couple's kitchen knives, the criminals inflicted physical abuse and threats to achieve their goal.
The incident was publicized on Tuesday by Eric Wall, a board member of the StarkNet Foundation, on X post (formerly Twitter). Wall emphasized the victims' ordeal of enduring extended violent abuse while their Bitcoin stored in hardware wallets was targeted. This incident is similar to previous attacks on two other prominent figures in the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency community.
These attacks are not isolated events. Wall traced the origin of this criminal trend back to 2022, citing an incident where a well-known Swedish Bitcoin enthusiast's apartment was burglarized.
The root cause of these attacks, according to Wall, is Sweden's Offentlighetsprincipen laws, which allow public access to personal data such as residential addresses and tax records. He argued that criminals are misusing these laws and social media to identify and target individuals involved in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrency activities.
Wall criticized the laws for enabling criminals to estimate potential targets' wealth based on their income or capital gains tax records. He noted that these laws had driven him to leave Sweden, describing it as unsafe for cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
These incidents underline the growing security risks faced by individuals involved in cryptocurrency activities and raise questions about the balance between public information access and personal privacy.
This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.