The Taihuttus on a ski journey to Sierra Nevada in southern Spain. They bought every thing they owned in 2017 to guess on bitcoin — and now journey full-time as a household of 5.
Didi Taihuttu
A wave of high-profile kidnappings concentrating on cryptocurrency executives has rattled the trade — and prompted a quiet safety revolution amongst a few of its most seen evangelists.
Didi Taihuttu, patriarch of the so-called “Bitcoin Household,” mentioned he overhauled the household’s total safety setup after a string of threats.
The Taihuttus — who bought every thing they owned in 2017, from their home to their sneakers, to go all-in on bitcoin when it was buying and selling round $900 — have lengthy lived on the outer fringe of crypto ideology. They journey full-time with their three daughters and stay solely unbanked.
Over the previous eight months, he mentioned, the household ditched {hardware} wallets in favor of a hybrid system: Half analog, half digital, with seed phrases encrypted, break up, and saved both by way of blockchain-based encryption companies or hidden throughout 4 continents.
“We have now modified every thing,” Taihuttu informed CNBC on a name from Phuket, Thailand. “Even when somebody held me at gunpoint, I am unable to give them greater than what’s on my pockets on my cellphone. And that is not loads.”
CNBC first reported on the household’s unconventional storage system in 2022, when Taihuttu described hiding {hardware} wallets throughout a number of continents — in locations starting from rental residences in Europe to self-storage items in South America.
The Taihuttu household dressed up for Halloween in Phuket, Thailand, the place they lately moved properties after receiving disturbing messages pinpointing their location from YouTube movies.
Didi Taihuttu
As bodily assaults on crypto holders develop into extra frequent, even they’re rethinking their publicity.
This week, Moroccan police arrested a 24-year-old suspected of orchestrating a sequence of brutal kidnappings concentrating on crypto executives.
One sufferer, the daddy of a crypto millionaire, was allegedly held for days in a home south of Paris — and reportedly had a finger severed throughout the ordeal.
In a separate case earlier this yr, a co-founder of French pockets agency Ledger and his spouse had been kidnapped from their house in central France in a ransom scheme that additionally focused one other Ledger govt.
Final month in New York, authorities mentioned, a 28-year-old Italian vacationer was kidnapped and tortured for 17 days in a Manhattan house by attackers making an attempt to extract his bitcoin password — surprising him with wires, beating him with a gun, and strapping an Apple AirTag round his neck to trace his actions.
The widespread thread: The pursuit of crypto credentials that allow immediate, irreversible transfers of digital belongings.
“It’s positively scary to see a variety of these kidnappings occur,” mentioned JP Richardson, CEO of crypto pockets firm Exodus. He urged customers to take safety into their very own palms by selecting self-custody, storing bigger sums on {hardware} wallets, and — for these holding important belongings — exploring multi-signature wallets, a setup usually utilized by establishments.
Richardson additionally really helpful spreading funds throughout completely different pockets sorts and avoiding giant balances in sizzling wallets to cut back threat with out sacrificing flexibility.
That rising sense of vulnerability is fueling a brand new demand for bodily safety with insurance coverage companies now racing to supply kidnap and ransom (Ok&R) insurance policies tailor-made to crypto holders.
However Taihuttu is not ready for company options. He is opted for full decentralization — of not simply his funds, however his private threat profile.
Because the household prepares to return to Europe from Thailand, security has develop into a continuing subject of dialog.
“We have been speaking about it loads as a household,” Taihuttu mentioned. “My youngsters learn the information, too — particularly that story in France, the place the daughter of a CEO was nearly kidnapped on the road.”
Now, he mentioned, his daughters are asking troublesome questions: What if somebody tries to kidnap us? What is the plan?
One of many metal plates the Taihuttu household makes use of to retailer a part of their bitcoin seed phrase. Didi etched it by hand utilizing a hammer and letter punch — a part of a decentralized storage system unfold throughout 4 continents.
Didi Taihuttu
Although the ladies carry solely small quantities of crypto of their private wallets, the household has determined to keep away from France solely.
“We acquired a little bit bit well-known in a distinct segment market — however that area of interest is turning into a very huge market now,” Taihuttu mentioned. “And I feel we’ll see increasingly more of those robberies. So yeah, we’re positively going to skip France.”
Even in Thailand, Taihuttu lately stopped posting journey updates and filming at house after receiving disturbing messages from strangers who claimed to have recognized his location from YouTube vlogs.
“We stayed in a really lovely home for six months — then I began getting emails from individuals who discovered which home it was. They warned me to watch out, informed me to not go away my youngsters alone,” he mentioned. “So we moved. And now we do not movie something in any respect.”
“It is a unusual world for the time being,” he mentioned. “So we’re taking our personal precautions — and in relation to wallets, we’re now fully {hardware} wallet-less. We do not use any {hardware} wallets anymore.”
To throw off would-be attackers, Didi Taihuttu encrypts choose phrases from every 24-word seed phrase — then splits the phrases into 4 units of six and hides them all over the world.
Didi Taihuttu
The household’s new system entails splitting a single 24-word bitcoin seed phrase — the cryptographic key that unlocks entry to their crypto holdings — into 4 units of six phrases, every saved in a special geographic location. Some are saved digitally by way of blockchain-based encryption platforms, whereas others are etched by hand into fireproof metal plates utilizing a hammer and letter punch, then hidden in bodily places throughout 4 continents.
“Even when somebody finds 18 of the 24 phrases, they can not do something,” Taihuttu defined.
On high of that, he is added a layer of non-public encryption, swapping out choose phrases to throw off would-be attackers. The strategy is easy, however efficient.
“You solely want to recollect which of them you modified,” he mentioned.
A part of the explanation for ditching {hardware} wallets, Taihuttu mentioned, was a rising distrust of third-party units. Issues about backdoors and distant entry options — together with a controversial replace by Ledger in 2023 — prompted the household to desert bodily {hardware} altogether in favor of encrypted paper and metal backups.
Whereas the household nonetheless holds some crypto in “sizzling” wallets — for every day spending or to run their algorithmic buying and selling technique — these funds are protected by multi-signature approvals, which require a number of events to log off earlier than a transaction will be executed.
The Taihuttus use Secure — previously Gnosis Secure — for ether and different altcoins, and equally layered setups for bitcoin saved on centralized platforms like Bybit.
Didi Taihuttu throughout a current go to to Sierra Nevada, Spain. The household’s life-style — unbanked, nomadic, and all-in on bitcoin — makes them outliers even within the crypto world.
Didi Taihuttu
About 65% of the household’s crypto is locked in chilly storage throughout 4 continents — a decentralized system Taihuttu prefers to centralized vaults just like the Swiss Alps bunker utilized by Coinbase-owned Xapo. These amenities could provide bodily safety and inheritance companies, however Taihuttu mentioned they require an excessive amount of belief.
“What occurs if a type of firms goes bankrupt? Will I nonetheless have entry?” he mentioned. “You are placing your capital again in another person’s palms.”
As a substitute, Taihuttu holds his personal keys — hidden throughout the globe. He can high up the wallets remotely with new deposits, however accessing them would require a minimum of one worldwide journey, relying on which fragments of the seed phrase are wanted. The funds, he added, are meant as a long-term pension to be accessed provided that bitcoin hits $1 million — a milestone he is concentrating on for 2033.
The shift towards multiparty protections extends past simply multi-signature. Multi-party computation, or MPC, is gaining traction as a extra superior safety mannequin.
Didi, Romaine, and their three daughters reside largely off-grid, managing crypto by way of decentralized exchanges, algorithmic buying and selling bots, and a globally distributed chilly storage system.
Didi Taihuttu
As a substitute of storing non-public keys in a single place — a vulnerability generally known as a “single level of compromise” — MPC splits a key into encrypted shares distributed throughout a number of events. Transactions can solely undergo when a threshold variety of these events approve, sharply lowering the danger of theft or unauthorized entry.
Multi-signature wallets require a number of events to approve a transaction. MPC takes that additional by cryptographically splitting the non-public key itself, guaranteeing that no single particular person ever holds the complete key — not even their very own full share.
The shift comes amid renewed scrutiny of centralized crypto platforms like Coinbase, which lately disclosed a information breach affecting tens of hundreds of shoppers.
Taihuttu, for his half, says 80% of his buying and selling now occurs on decentralized exchanges like Apex — a peer-to-peer platform that enables customers to set purchase and promote orders with out relinquishing custody of their funds, marking a return to crypto’s authentic ethos.
Whereas he declined to disclose his complete holdings, Taihuttu did share his purpose for the present bull cycle: a $100 million internet price, with 60% nonetheless held in bitcoin. The remainder is a mixture of ether, layer-1 tokens like solana, hyperlink, sui, and a rising variety of AI and education-focused startups — together with his personal platform providing blockchain and life-skills programs for teenagers.
Currently, he is additionally contemplating stepping again from the highlight.
“It is actually my ardour to create content material. It is actually what I like to do day-after-day,” he mentioned. “But when it isn’t secure anymore for my daughters … I actually need to consider them.”
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