Paraguayan law enforcement has deported three individuals and arrested another for attempting to steal crypto miners at a facility near the country’s Itaipu hydroelectric dam.

According to a May 15 statement from Paraguayan prosecutor Irene Rolón, the men were caught by police soon after breaking into a locked section of Teratech SA’s facility in Coronel Bogado, leading to their arrest.

Prosecutors believe the men may have had ties to Teratech as independent contractors, but are still waiting on official confirmation from the company’s CEO.

The three deported were Chinese nationals Jinping Duan, Tian Jianyun and Zheng Guanglong, who did not have official entry records into the country. Paraguayan authorities and Interpol believe the men illegally entered through Brazil or Bolivia.

The three deported Chinese nationals pictured before leaving the country. Source: PDS Radio Y TV Digital

The other person arrested, Nahun María Velázquez Garcete, is a legal resident in Paraguay but is believed to be part of a criminal organization.

He has been charged with aggravated theft and is currently in pretrial detention.

The arrested individual was hospitalized in critical condition soon after the arrest, but the injuries sustained weren’t disclosed.

Paraguayan officials believe other individuals were involved in the attempted theft and are working to identify those people. As such, the case is still under investigation.

Deportees may have been working illegally for months

Rolón believes the undocumented immigrants had been in Paraguay for several months and had come to work as programmers. However, it isn’t clear whether that work was performed for the company.

Paraguayan officials are waiting on a report from Teratech’s CEO to determine the exact nature of his relationship with the three men.

Related: Bitcoin miner Hive taps Paraguay for low-cost energy partnership

Paraguay is considered well-suited for crypto mining operations due to its abundant renewable energy resources, much of which is underutilized.

The Itaipu dam has become a popular site for miners to set up, as it supplies all of Paraguay’s local electricity needs and leaves a large amount of excess electricity to tap into.

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Key takeaways:

Traders expect a Bitcoin price pullback to $90,000, but a bull flag could break out to new highs if profit taking near the range highs reduces.

On-chain data suggests the current profit taking is too weak to extinguish Bitcoin’s current price momentum.

Bitcoin (BTC) price has spent the bulk of the week pinned below $104,000 to $105,000, which many analysts have labelled as a resistance zone, but an alternative view suggests that BTC is simply consolidating within a bull flag.

A bull flag is a continuation pattern that is characterized by a period of sideways price action following a sharp uptrend, and when the structure confirms or breaks from the trendline resistance, the uptrend continues. 

BTC/USDT 1-day chart. Source: TRDR.io

While the range-bound trading portion of the flag is said to represent indecision from buyers and sellers, in this scenario, the absence of buy volume is the primary culprit. As shown in the TRDR.io chart below, Bitcoin’s explosive move to $105,900 from $74,400 was accompanied by large liquidations in the margin markets and robust spot volumes, which aligned with several days of billion-dollar spot BTC ETF inflows. 

BTC/USDT 1hr chart. Source: TRDR.io

During this three-week period, several US-based and international companies also announced plans to purchase Bitcoin and establish BTC treasuries. The spot and futures cumulative volume delta, along with the open interest metric on the chart show traders selling near the range highs and the absence of new long leverage and significantly sized spot positions being opened in this area, whereas drops to range low (bull flag support) sees bids filled on the spot side, but there is still limited use of margin for fresh longs. 

BTC/USD spot and margin CVD. Source: TRDR.io

Bitcoin’s recent cool-down phase is a normal outcome after the near 40% recovery that started on April 8, and the loss of upward momentum resulting from profit-taking in futures markets near the current range high is also to be expected. 

Bitcoin short-term holder supply profit and loss data from Glassnode supports this view, as shown in the chart below. The onchain data company highlighted profit taking for short-term traders but explained that it does not exceed the statistical norm, leaving room for further price upside. 

“Recently, the magnitude of STH Realized Profit has surged to almost +3 standard deviations above its 90-day average, reflecting a notable uptick in profit realization. In past cycles, particularly during rallies towards the ATH, this metric has historically climbed to over +5 standard deviations of more. This signals that much stronger profit-taking pressure is often required to overwhelm the inflow demand.” BTC: Short-term holder activity in profit and loss. Source: Glassnode 

Related: Bitfinex Bitcoin longs total $6.8B while shorts stand at $25M — Time for BTC to rally?

Bitcoin should test underlying support before moving higher

With the bulk of Bitcoin’s apparent sell-side liquidity absorbed during the move to $105,000, some analysts warn that a brief flush down to test $100,000 to $90,000 as support could be the next move for BTC price. 

Bitcoin market liquidity resource Material Indicators said, barring “a serious catalyst,“ […] BTC has a legit support test at $100K, and FireCharts show that the order book is priming for that with asks stacking and bids moving lower.” 

Bitcoin price liquidity heatmap. Source: Material Indicators

Sharing his view with X followers, analyst Daan Crypto Trades said that the bulk of bullish and bearish narratives with the potential to impact Bitcoin’s price action have “cleared up” and he noted that BTC price has stalled near its all-time high while stocks have continued to rally after President Trump’s US-China trade deal was confirmed. 

The analyst said that “$90K remains my long-term line in the sand for spot exposure,” adding that he is “cautiously bullish” with price above $90,000 but that is dependent upon how US equity markets perform in the short term. 

“I would not be surprised to see a short-term flush if stocks were to roll over and make a higher low somewhere. Considering most stocks moved 30% to 50% in a single month, this wouldn’t be that crazy either.” 

This article does not contain investment advice or recommendations. Every investment and trading move involves risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making a decision.

Crypto entrepreneurs and their families in France will receive enhanced security measures amid a recent rise in crypto-related kidnappings in the country, Politico reported.

According to the May 16 report, the measures include priority access to police emergency lines, home security assessments, and safety briefings from French law enforcement to ensure best practices are being followed.

France’s Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau introduced the security measures as part of a broader effort to counter the recent wave of attacks.

“These repeated kidnappings of professionals in the crypto sector will be fought with specific tools, both immediate and short-term, to prevent, dissuade and hinder in order to protect the industry.”

Law enforcement officers will also undergo “anti-crypto asset laundering training,” Retailleau noted.

Retailleau met with several local leaders from the crypto industry to discuss the measures following three crypto-related kidnapping incidents in recent months.

Two kidnappings and a failed attempt in France this year

The latest incident occurred on May 13, when assailants attempted to abduct the daughter and grandson of Pierre Noizat, CEO of the French crypto platform Paymium. Fortunately, they managed to fend off the attack, which occurred in broad daylight. 

The assailants tried to force the pair into a waiting van, but Noizat’s daughter managed to take one of the guns off an assailant and throw it away, local police said.

En plein Paris, un homme a été violenté par des individus cagoulés, habillés tout en noir. Ils tentaient de l’enlever. Un homme a surgi, extincteur à la main, pour les faire fuir. →https://t.co/P0qV6PR40v pic.twitter.com/9f4r2Gi7ho

— Le Figaro (@Le_Figaro) May 13, 2025

On May 3, Paris police freed the father of a crypto entrepreneur who was held for several days in connection with a 7 million euros ($7.8 million) kidnapping plot.

Related: SEC hacker sentenced to 14 months in prison

In January, the co-founder of crypto hardware wallet provider Ledger, David Balland, was abducted from his home in central France during the early hours of Jan. 21. He was held captive until a police operation on the night of Jan. 22 secured his release.

Retailleau said earlier this week that he believes the incidents were likely connected.

There have been over 150 crypto-related robbery or kidnapping incidents since 2014, with 23 of those incidents occurring in 2025 alone, according to a GitHub database maintained by Bitcoin cypherpunk Jameson Lopp.

Lopp noted many of these criminals typically identify future victims through social media posts, public conversations, meetups, and conferences.

He strongly advises against peer-to-peer trades — particularly with people you don’t trust — flaunting wealth on social media and wearing crypto-branded clothing.

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