French authorities have arrested six suspects, including a minor, after a magistrate and her mother were held captive last week for around 30 hours in a cryptocurrency ransom plot, prosecutors said on Sunday, February 8.

Four men and one woman were detained, three overnight and two on Sunday morning, Lyon prosecutor Thierry Dran told AFP. He later confirmed a minor had been arrested on Sunday afternoon.

The individuals were taken into custody following the discovery of the 35-year-old magistrate and her 67-year-old mother on Friday morning, found injured in a garage in the southeastern Drôme region. Two of those arrested overnight were detained as they attempted to take a bus to Spain, according to a source close to the case speaking on condition of anonymity.

Authorities continue to actively search for further suspects, a second source close to the case said, adding that the woman in custody is the partner of one of the four male suspects.

During a press conference Friday after the pair’s escape, prosecutor Dran said the magistrate’s partner – who was not home when the two victims were abducted overnight Wednesday to Thursday – has a leading position in a cryptocurrency start-up.

A massive police search involving 160 officers was launched after the magistrate’s partner had received a message and a photo of her from the kidnappers demanding a ransom to be paid in cryptocurrency.

The captors threatened to mutilate the victims if the transfer was not made quickly, Dran told reporters, declining to specify the amount demanded. But the two women managed to free themselves and call for help without any ransom being paid, by banging on the garage door in Bourg-les-Valence.

“Alerted by the noise, a neighbour intervened. He was able to open the door and allow our two victims to escape,” Dran said.

Crypto-linked kidnappings

French authorities have been dealing with a string of kidnappings and extortion attempts targeting the families of wealthy individuals dealing in cryptocurrencies.

In January 2025, kidnappers seized French crypto boss David Balland and his partner. Balland co-founded a crypto firm called Ledger, valued at the time at more than $1 billion.

Balland’s kidnappers cut off his finger and demanded a hefty ransom. He was freed the next day, and his girlfriend was found tied up in the boot of a car outside Paris.

In May, the father of a man who ran a Malta-based cryptocurrency company was kidnapped by four hooded men in Paris. The victim, whose finger was also severed by the kidnappers and for whom a ransom of several million euros was demanded, was released 58 hours later in a raid by the security forces.

Most assets simply can’t reinvent themselves every few quarters, but Ethereum (ETH +4.21%) arguably does just that. After pushing two major upgrades, Pectra and Fusaka, in 2025, the chain has another two big improvements on the docket for 2026.

Nonetheless, the coin’s price is down by 38% during the past three months alone, largely for macro reasons that are well beyond its control. Thus it’s likely undervalued, and potentially by quite a lot. Does that make it a screaming buy with a hearty investment of $5,000?

The upgrade pipeline is solid, but it can’t guarantee returns

Ethereum’s 2025 upgrades were a lot more than cosmetic improvements, and they laid the technical groundwork for a lot of the follow-on work that’s going to happen this year. This stuff might sound boring (and it might actually be) but knowing what’s going on with it is key to appreciating the chain’s place in the crypto sector’s competitive landscape, not to mention its future opportunities for growth.

The Pectra upgrade went live in May 2025, and it bundled changes aimed at providing better wallet UX, more efficient staking, and more throughput for Layer-2 (L2) chains. Fusaka followed on Dec. 3, and its headline feature, peer-to-peer data availability sampling (PeerDAS) is also a game changer for the chain’s ability to provide rapid performance at scale, and substantially cheaper than before. Today, the chain’s average transaction fees are roughly 75% lower than three years ago, with an average token swap now costing about $0.30, so these successive upgrades are definitely succeeding in making Ethereum a cheaper and easier technology to use.

Today’s Change

(4.21%) $85.83

Current Price

$2123.98

Key Data Points

Market Cap

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$256B

Day’s Range

$2014.22 – $2136.13

52wk Range

$1398.62 – $4946.05

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Volume

32B

For 2026, the next upgrade, Glamsterdam, will build on those past successes while also adding new censorship resistance features. But, if the coin’s price performance after past updates is any indication, investors simply can’t count on a boost.

There’s no rush to buy it

There’s not exactly a rush to buy Ethereum before Glamsterdam drops.

Ethereum’s upside comes from being the settlement layer that L2s and on-chain finance route through. Given that its upgrades tend to reduce transaction costs rather than increase them, the coin’s value capture from the traffic it supports is still very weak, and it would likely take a deluge of new traffic to move the needle for investors. Realistically, the new traffic will probably ramp up slowly over time, assuming it arrives at all, so buying the coin means getting exposure both to the value generated from the improvement of its underlying tech and also the value generated from people using it to pay for decentralized finance (DeFi) apps and services.

But it’s still very much an asset worth owning, as it’s one of the most important in the crypto sector. An investment of $5,000 buys roughly 2.5 coins, which is enough exposure in case 2026’s development road map plays out such that the coin’s price significantly rises, which is still possible.

Of course, if you’re usually intolerant of risk, it’s probably better to aim for a much smaller allocation.