While the $30 million figure covers only successful thefts, the total value of all attempted crimes, including those where funds were later frozen or recovered, reached approximately $107 million by mid-year.
This trend highlights a growing security risk for individuals whose wealth is held in instantly movable and irreversible digital formats.
Chainalysis suggests the spike in France, where attacks rose from about two per month in 2025 to over four per month in 2026, stems from a significant data breach.
A French tax official is alleged to have stolen and sold sensitive dossiers containing the names, addresses, and tax records of high-net-worth holders to criminal intermediaries.
These dossiers have enabled organized groups to move beyond opportunistic crimes toward planned, intelligence-driven raids on local residents in cities across the country.
The nature of these confrontations is shifting as attackers increasingly target the families and acquaintances of holders to force a payment, a tactic now seen in over 40% of French cases.
While the frequency of attacks has increased, Chainalysis noted that the success rate of these attempts has actually fallen to 26% in 2026, down from 67% two years prior.
Despite the lower success rate, the laundering of stolen funds remains a complex challenge; while some criminals move funds directly to exchanges, others use sophisticated tools like cross-chain bridges—services that move assets between different blockchains—to hide their trail within broader global laundering networks.