Hackers extort French crypto company Waltio after pinching data from 50,000 users

Hackers have targeted French crypto company Waltio, demanding a ransom after reportedly stealing customer emails and tax reports.

Waltio, a platform that lets customers calculate and report their digital asset capital gains, said Friday that the hackers did not obtain passwords or other sensitive customer data.

“On January 21, 2026, we were the recipient of an attempted extortion,” the company wrote. “This appears to follow a particularly sophisticated attack, which allowed access to certain company data.”

DL News reached out to Waltio for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.

Risk of phishing

French daily Le Parisien reported that data from 50,000 Waltio customers had been stolen.

Waltio CEO Pierre Morizot said in a statement that hackers got user emails and gains and losses from the 2024 tax reports.

He said the biggest risk would be cybercriminals reaching out to clients through social engineering scams.

“Some attackers may use contextual elements (e.g. the existence of a tax report or aggregated information) to appear credible,” Morizot warned.

Social engineering attacks can take many forms, such as sending victims malicious links via email or calling them and pretending to be someone else.

The objective, however, is the same: Getting additional information, such as key phrases to a crypto wallet, that would let them steal users’ funds.

The cybercrime arm of France’s public prosecutor’s office is investigating the incident.

DL News reached out with questions, but did not immediately receive a response.

Attacks in France

Bitcoin developer Jameson Lopp flagged the incident on X Friday, describing it as “more terrible news for French cryptocurrency users.”

A number of high-profile crypto crimes have happened in the European nation over the past year.

Most notably in 2025, crooks kidnapped hardware manufacturer Ledger’s co-founder, David Balland, holding him and his wife for 24 hours before being released.

Mathew Di Salvo is a news correspondent with DL News. Got a tip? Email at mdisalvo@dlnews.com.