Looking back at the violent kidnapping of one of its (low-profile) co-founders
I’ll admit I hesitated for a long time before publishing this newsletter, which is why it finally went out on Sunday instead of Saturday. Partly because crime stories aren’t really my beat, but mostly because when I cover tech or finance here, I never do it through the personal lives of founders or executives.
But the violent kidnapping of David Balland, co-founder of Ledger, has been widely covered, it ended (more or less) well, several of the people involved have spoken publicly, and it comes at a rather particular moment. Since it was resolved, several crypto figures have revealed that they too have been threatened, and other crimes seem to echo it. Enough to ask whether there is a wider problem. And so enough to confirm there was something worth investigating.
A QUICK PLUG BEFORE WE GET TO THE CONTENT
Note: some passages are deliberately vague so as not to interfere with the ongoing investigation, reveal overly precise details, or compromise one or more sources.