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A digital currency investor who goes by the name “Sillytuna” says attackers stole around $24 million in digital currencies from him after threatening him with violence during a real-world robbery, an incident that exposed what’s known as a “wrench attack.”
A “spanner attack” is a type of crime in the digital currency world that relies on threats or physical violence to force victims to hand over wallet keys or transfer assets, rather than technically committing a hack.
The origin of the name comes from an old ironic idea in computer security, which says that breaking an encryption may be very difficult, but the owner of the key can simply hit it with an English key (a mechanical tool) until he gives you the password.
The victim explained in a post on the X platform that the attackers were armed and threatened to kidnap and assault him if he did not hand over control of the digital wallet.
He confirmed that British police were investigating the incident.
According to data from the blockchain analysis platform, the attackers seized approximately $23.6 million in “aEthUSDC” currency associated with the victim’s wallet.
Most of the funds were then quickly converted into other digital currencies and spread across multiple wallets.
Analysis shows that approximately $20 million was converted into DAI and placed in two addresses on the Ethereum network, while $2.48 million was transferred to the Arbitrum network before being used to purchase the privacy currency Monero, making tracking more difficult. Approximately $1.1 million was also transferred to the Bitcoin network via bridging services and possibly to currency mixing services.
Victims are offered a 10% reward for recovering any portion of their funds, even if the perpetrators return the funds themselves, and ask exchanges and blockchain investigators to help track or freeze the assets.
The incident sparked swift action by the crypto community to track down the stolen funds.
Security researchers pointed to the use of the “Wagyu” service to transfer funds to Monero, while the service’s developers explained that the platform does not usually freeze user funds, but is later able to monitor suspicious transactions and block additional operations.
The incident is part of a marked increase in physical coercion attacks against cryptocurrency investors. The most prominent previous incidents include the kidnapping of Ledger co-founder David Baland in France in 2025, as well as an incident in which an American investor was drugged in London and had approximately $122,000 in digital currency stolen.
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