A millionaire French crypto boss has been rescued from kidnappers by French special forces – but they arrived too late to stop the captors chopping off his finger.

David Balland, 36, and his wife Amandine were abducted from their home in Vierzon, central France, in the early hours of Tuesday morning and driven to two separate locations as the kidnappers demanded a reported $10 million (£8 million) ransom be paid.

The GIGN, a French elite police tactical unit specialising in hostage situations, formed part of a 230-person force sent out to find the couple as a news blackout was issued around the fast-moving situation. When they finally swooped on a remote house some 65 kilometres away, near Châteauroux, they found Mr Balland bloodied and bruised, and missing a digit.

They arrested nine men and a woman aged between 20 and 40 and police are hunting for further potential accomplices.

Mr Balland is the co-founder of French crypto company Ledger, a world leader in digital wallets and vaults to safeguard crypto assets. The company is valued today at over €1.3 billion (£1.1 billion) and is one of France’s top 15 “unicorns” – privately held startups worth more than $1 billion (£800 million).  His net worth is thought to be in the millions.