As celebrity Twitch streamer Kaitlyn Siragusa (better known as Amouranth) slept at her home in Houston, three men broke in and pistol-whipped her, demanding she hand over her cryptocurrency. What the thieves didn’t know was that Siragusa’s husband, Nick Lee, was in the bathroom. Lee emerged with a gun and fired at the men, causing them to flee.
The incident is just one in a recent string that has prompted authorities to warn investors in cryptocurrency and people owning large amounts of digital assets about their vulnerability to kidnapping and robbery. Jameson Lopp, the chief technology officer of crypto asset custody solutions firm Casa, has compiled a database of physical attacks, which shows 23 reported incidents so far this year, compared with 32 for all of 2024.
Lopp said he believes several people have been targeted because they flaunted their crypto wealth on social media. While most U.S. banks will ask customers to give prior notice before withdrawing large amounts from their accounts, this extra precaution is unavailable in the digital-asset space.
