Scandinavian countries disclose tax records and addresses of crypto hodlers, providing criminals with a list of potential targets.
Scandinavian countries — Norway, Sweden and Finland — have a policy of total financial transparency that sees each citizen’s financial records published annually along with their names, birth date and home addresses.
While the tradition stems from a crypto-like commitment to open records and transparency, an unintended consequence is providing criminals with a “hit list” of wealthy citizens to target who have large, self-custodied crypto holdings. The move has been labeled by one Norwegian Bitcoiner as “completely insane, putting a target on the back of all of these people.”
Unlike traditional assets kept in a bank or on the stock market, self-custodied crypto is easily accessed, and transfers cannot be reversed. Funds are accessed via a private key controlled by the holders, meaning that a so-called $5 wrench attack — where criminals use physical violence or threats to force hodlers to hand over the keys — is a relatively easy method of theft.
