An armed gang attempted to abduct the daughter and grandson of a prominent French cryptocurrency trader, but after a fierce struggle they fled empty-handed.

The brazen bid to kidnap the pair took place on a Paris street on Tuesday and was filmed by an onlooker standing nearby, local media reports.

Four masked attackers can be seen in footage jumping from a white van and grabbing the mother and her child.

They hit the woman’s partner when he attempted to intervene.

All three suffered injuries and were taken to hospital, the AFP agency.

Police said the woman resisted by grabbing one of the attacker’s handguns and throwing it away.

When the victims’ screams attracted passers-by, the gang jumped back in the van and drove away.

The woman is the daughter of the chief executive and co-founder of Paymium, a French cryptocurrency exchange platform.

The attempted abduction is the latest in a series of violent incidents targeting executives in France’s crypto industry.

Earlier this month, French police rescued the father of a cryptocurrency entrepreneur from his kidnappers Saturday night, but found he’d had one of his fingers severed.

The victim, who has not been publicly identified, was held hostage in an Airbnb 20 km south of Paris for two days before being rescued.

In January, David Balland, head of the Ledger crypto company, and his partner were snatched from their home.

Before the couple was freed by police, the assailants cut off Balland’s finger, sending a video of the severed appendage to his business partner and demanding ransom money.