Family of Paymium CEO Targeted in Failed Attack in Central Paris

In the gray dawn of May 13, 2025, in Paris’s 11th arrondissement, three masked men leapt from a van disguised as a Chronopost delivery vehicle and tried to drag the 34-year-old daughter of Paymium’s founder and her two-year-old son into the street. What appeared to be a meticulously planned abduction quickly unraveled, however, when the child’s father rushed to his family’s defense, refusing to let the assailants carry out their plot.

As the confrontation escalated, the daughter managed to wrest a pneumatic replica pistol from one of the attackers and hurled it away. Bystanders rallied to help: one grabbed a fire extinguisher and sprayed its contents at the kidnappers, while another retrieved the fallen weapon replica. Startled and outnumbered, the criminals retreated to their van and fled through the narrow alleys, abandoning the vehicle a short distance from the scene.

Parisian police arrived promptly. Investigators have already taken statements from all witnesses, seized the van for forensic examination, and begun reviewing footage from nearby surveillance cameras. A specialist armed-robbery unit at the public prosecutor’s office is leading the inquiry, determined to identify who ordered the attack and whether it was an isolated incident or part of a broader criminal scheme.

The incident has sent shockwaves through France’s crypto community, where attacks on figures connected to digital finance have become alarmingly frequent. In January, special forces freed Ledger’s co-founder and his partner from captivity, and earlier this month another prominent crypto entrepreneur’s father was held hostage for three days in a Bitcoin ransom demand. Such episodes underscore how the pseudonymity and rapid transaction speeds of cryptocurrencies can attract violent criminal interest.

Paymium’s security protocol is as robust as its trading engine. Founded in 2011 as one of Europe’s first platforms to convert bitcoin to euros, the exchange received formal approval as a digital asset service provider from France’s financial watchdog (AMF) in 2021. Today, Paymium serves hundreds of thousands of users and participates in the Labchain consortium under the auspices of Caisse des Dépôts.

In the wake of this latest attempt, industry leaders and specialists are reassessing personal protection measures—from armored convoys and encrypted access codes to tighter controls over public mentions of family members on social media. As law enforcement intensifies its investigation, the broader crypto sector must collaborate to erect safer environments, ensuring that innovations in digital finance do not come at the cost of personal security.