Ransom: Canadian entrepreneur kidnapped

A Canadian crypto entrepreneur has been kidnapped. With Bitcoin rates rising, the risk of attacks against crypto investors is also increasing.

The CEO of Canadian crypto company WonderFi, Dean Skurka, was kidnapped. The entrepreneur was released only after paying a ransom of one million US dollars in cryptocurrency. For the ransom payment, a family member had to help because Skurka could not complete the transaction from his smartphone. According to CBC, Skurka was kidnapped on the evening of Nov. 6 in downtown Toronto.

Skurka is making good, stressing that customer data and assets were not affected by the incident.

"The higher the Bitcoin exchange rate, the greater the likelihood of kidnappings," said Jameson Lopp, Chief Security Officer of Casa. Skurka's kidnapping is the 171st known case of cryptocurrency-related kidnappings, Lopp said.

Bitcoin developer Peter Todd also fears for his safety. After HBO referred to him as Satoshi Nakamoto, the Canadian had to go into hiding.