‘Bitcoin Family’ changed security after recent crypto kidnappings

A wave of high -level kidnappings targeting cryptocurrency leaders rocked the industry – and caused a quiet security revolution among some of its most visible evangelists.

Didi TaihuttuPatriarch of the so-called “Bitcoin family”, said that he had revised the whole configuration of family security after a series of threats.

The Taihuttus – which sold everything they had in 2017, from their house to their shoes, to go all -in on Bitcoin when it exchanged $ 900 – has long lived on the outer edge of the cryptographic ideology. They travel with their three daughters and remain entirely without bench.

Over the past eight months, he said, the family has abandoned the material portfolios in favor of a hybrid system: partly analog, partly digital, with encrypted seed sentences, divided and stored via encryption services based on blockchain or hidden on four continents.

“We have changed everything,” Taihuttu told CNBC during a Phuket call, Thailand. “Even if someone held me under the threat of a weapon, I can’t give them more than what is on my wallet on my phone. And that’s not much.”

CNBC reported the family’s unconventional storage system in 2022 when Taihuttu described Material wallets On several continents – in places ranging from rental apartments to Europe to free -meeting units in South America.

As physical attacks against crypto holders become more frequent, even they are rethinking their exposure.

This week, Moroccan police arrested a 24 -year -old suspected of having orchestrated a series of Brutal kidnapping targeting the leaders of Crypto.

A victim, the father of a Millionaire cryptowould have been detained for days in a house south of Paris – and would have been cut off during the event.

In a separate case earlier this year, a co-founder of the French portfolio company Ledger and his wife were removed from their home in the center of France in a ransom program which also targeted another ledger leader.

Last month in New Yorksaid the authorities, a 28 -year -old Italian tourist was kidnapped and tortured for 17 days in an apartment in Manhattan by attackers trying to extract his Bitcoin password – the shocking threads, the fighter with a pistol and endearing an apple apple around his neck to follow his movements.

The common thread: the continuation of cryptographic references which allow instant and irreversible transfers of virtual assets.

“It is really scary to see that many of these kidnappings occur,” said JP Richardson, CEO of Crypto Wallet Company Exodus. He urged users to take safety in their hands by choosing self -leather, by storing larger sums on hardware portfolios and – for those who hold important assets – exploring multi -signating portfolios, a configuration generally used by institutions.

Richardson has also recommended to spread funds through different types of wallets and avoid large balances in hot wallets to reduce risk without sacrificing flexibility.

This growing feeling of vulnerability fuels a new request for physical protection with insurance companies that now run to offer kidnap and ransom (K&R) Politicians adapted to crypto holders.

But Taihuttu does not expect business solutions. He opted for full decentralization – not only of his finances, but of his personal risk profile.

While the family is preparing to return to Europe in Thailand, security has become a constant subject of conversation.

“We have talked about it a lot with the family,” said Taihuttu. “My children have also read the news – in particular this story in France, where the daughter of a CEO was almost kidnapped in the street.”

Now, he said, his daughters ask difficult questions: what’s going on if someone is trying to kidnap us? What is the plan?

Although girls have only small amounts of crypto in their personal wallets, the family has decided to completely avoid France.

“We have become a little famous in a niche market – but this niche becomes a very large market now,” said Taihuttu. “And I think we will see more and more these flights. So yes, we will certainly skip France.”

Even in Thailand, Taihuttu recently ceased to publish travel updates and film at home after receiving disturbing messages from foreigners who claimed to have identified its location from Vlogs YouTube.

“We stayed in a very beautiful house for six months-then I started to receive emails from people who understood what house it was. They warned me to be careful, told me not to leave my children alone,” he said. “So we have moved. And now we don’t film anything at all.”

“It’s a strange world right now,” he said. “So we take our own precautions – and with regard to wallets, we are now completely without a material portfolio. We no longer use material portfolios.”

The new family system is to divide a single sentence of 24 -words bitcoin seeds – the cryptographic key which unlocks access to their cryptographic operations – in four six -words sets, each stored in a different geographic location. Some are maintained digitally via blockchain-based encryption platforms, while others are hand engraved in fireproof steel plates using a hammer and a punch, then hidden in physical locations on four continents.

“Even if someone finds 18 of the 24 words, he can’t do anything,” said Taihuttu.

In addition to that, he added a layer of personal encryption, exchanging selected words to reject potential attackers. The method is simple, but effective.

“You just need to remember those you have changed,” he said.

Part of the reason for the abandonment of material portfolios, Taihuttu said, was an increasing distrust of third -party devices. Concerns concerning drifts and remote access features – including Controversial update By LEDGER in 2023 – prompted the family to completely abandon the physical equipment in favor of encrypted paper and steel backups.

While the family still has crypto in “hot” portfolios – for daily expenses or to execute its algorithmic negotiation strategy – these funds are protected by multi -signating approvals, which require that several parties are disconnected before a transaction can be executed.

Taihuttus uses its safety – formerly Gnusis Sure – for ether And other altcoins, and configurations in similar layers for Bitcoin stored on centralized platforms like Bybit.

About 65% of the family crypto is locked in cold storage on four continents – a decentralized system that Taihuttu prefers centralized vaults like the Swiss Alpes Bunker used by Jamming-Parmed Xapo. These facilities can offer physical protection and inheritance services, but Taihuttu has said that they require too much confidence.

“What happens if one of these companies goes bankrupt? Will I always have access?” He said. “You put your capital back in someone else’s hands.”

Instead, Taihuttu has its own keys – hidden around the world. It can complete the portfolios remotely with new deposits, but access would require at least one international journey, depending on the fragments of the seed sentence. The funds, he added, are intended for a long-term pension to be accessible only if Bitcoin reaches $ 1 million-a milestone which it targets for 2033.

The change to multi-party protections extends beyond the simple multi-signature signature. Multipartite calculation, or MPC, gains ground as a more advanced security model.

Instead of storing private keys in a single place – a vulnerability known as “single compromise” – MPC divides a key to encrypted actions distributed between several parties. Transactions cannot go through the fact that a number of thresholds of these parties approves, strongly reducing the risk of flight or unauthorized access.

Multi-signating portfolios require several parts to approve a transaction. MPC goes further by dividing the private key itself cryptographically, ensuring that no individual never has the complete key – not even their own full part.

The change comes in the middle of a renewed control of centralized cryptographic platforms as Jammingwho recently disclosed a data violation affecting tens of thousands customers.

Taihuttu, for its part, says that 80% of its exchanges are now occurring on decentralized exchanges such as Apex-a Peer-to-Peer platform which allows users to define purchase and sale orders without abandoning the custody of their funds, marking a return to the original ethics of Crypto.

While he refused to reveal his total assets, Taihuttu shared his goal for the current bull cycle: a net value of $ 100 million, with 60% still owned in Bitcoin. The rest is a mixture of ether, layer 1 tokens as Solara,, linkSU, and an increasing number of AI and education startups – including its own platform offering blockchain and life skills for children.

Recently, he also plans to back up projectors.

“It’s really my passion for creating content. This is really what I like to do every day,” he said. “But if it’s no longer sure for my daughters … I really need to think about it.”

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