On December 26, Pavel Lerner, a 40-year-old information technology and exchange bitcoin specialist, was kidnapped in Kiev, Ukraine. He was allegedly pushed into a Mercedes-Benz Vito by unknown assailants wearing dark clothes and balaclavas. Lerner, a leading analyst at the EXMO Cryptocurrency Exchange, has stopped answering the phone after leaving the company's offices.
[2] In response to Reuters, Anton Gerashchenko, advisor to the Ukrainian Interior Minister, Arsen Avakov, said that Pavel Lerner had been released after the payment of a bitcoin ransom of one million euros. dollars. In his words, it seems that either Pavel Lerner or EXMO has paid the ransom, but at this point, it is unclear exactly who did it. According to an EXMO statement released, Pavel did not have access to users' financial assets, and the platform was operating normally.
Notably, Gerashchenko added that it is the "first case of this kind in Ukraine related to bitcoin", a potential index of the size of crypto-currencies. Kiev police began investigating the crime on Dec. 26, and until now, it has only admitted to having opened a criminal investigation after a man was kidnapped in the Obolon district. , without revealing the name of the victim.
After Lerner was found alive and safe, EXMO revealed that he was in a "state of major stress" and that, therefore, he would not provide any official comment in the coming days. In his statement, the cryptocurrency exchange, which currently has a trading volume of $ 194 million and lists crypto pairs of Russian rubles, thanked the cryptocurrency community for its support. The statement reads:
"The EXMO team is deeply grateful to the cryptocurrency community and the media for their active support.We are committed to providing timely updates on the situation. "
He notes however that "the history of Pavel's kidnapping has been invaded by rumors that could alter the official investigation" and, as such, "abstains" any comment or suggestion of own versions of the possible scenario ". to come up. "
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