Crypto CEO Kidnapped With $1 Million Ransom As Bitcoin Hits Record Highs

A CEO of one of the largest Crypto companies in Canada was kidnapped and forced to pay a $1 million ransom at record high Bitcoin prices.

Dean Shurka, the president and CEO of crypto company WonderFi, was kidnapped and held for ransom in Toronto, Canada on Wednesday, November 6, 2024.

Through the first reports of CBC NewsToronto police confirmed that Shurka was forced into a vehicle in the early evening and kidnapped near University Avenue and Richmond Street by multiple suspects who then demanded money.

The CEO was released after a $1 million ransom was paid electronically and police found Shurka unharmed in Centennial Park.

The WonderFi president emailed CBC a statement confirming his safety. Furthermore, the company confirmed to BetaKit that customer data has not been compromised.

“(WonderFi) is cooperating fully with the Toronto Police Service in this active investigation,” a spokesperson for Shurka’s revealed. BetaKit.

“The company can confirm that customer funds and data remain safe and have not been affected by this incident. Our top priority is ensuring the safety of our employees.”

WonderFi owns two of Canada’s most popular crypto exchanges, Bitby and Coinsqaure. Additionally, the company also owns the crypto payment platform SmartPay and has a stake in Tetra Trust, a crypto custodian.

This incident comes just as the price of Bitcoin is hitting a new high, and as a result, the number of crypto-related extortions and thefts has increased.

Jameson Lopp, co-founder and chief security officer of US security firm Casa, discussed this growing problem in comments to CBC News.

“They (cryptocurrencies) are incredibly easy to transport, incredibly easy to take into someone’s possession compared to a bank or an armored truck,” Lopp began.

“The average crypto person, even early adopters who may be multi-millionaires, typically don’t have very good physical security, and often they don’t have good operational security or privacy either.”

Police later confirmed that the investigation into Shurka’s kidnapping was ongoing and had not released any further details about the incident at the time of writing.