According to Ukrainian media, the head of the EXMO cryptocurrency exchange Pavel Lerner has been kidnapped in Kiev, the police is investigating the case.

According to Ukrainian media, the Russian IT expert Pavel Lerner has been kidnapped in Kiev.

Pavel Lerner (40) is a and managing director EXMO, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, and according to a Ukrainian media Strana.ua he stopped responding to phone calls on December 26.

“According to the applicant in the case, Lerner was abducted near his workplace – an office center in Stepan Bandery Street (before renaming – Moscow Avenue). The programmer was dragged into the car of Mercedes-Benz Vito brand (state number AA 2063 MT) by unknown persons in dark clothes and balaclava, and taken away to an unknown destination.” states the Strana.ua.

Lerner has been kidnapped while he was leaving his office in Stepan Bandera Prospect in Kiev.

The IT specialist led a number of startups, related to blockchain technology and cryptocurrency mining.

Ukrainian police are investigating the case, at the time I was writing it is still unclear who and why kidnapped the man.

EXMO confirmed the news of the kidnapping and clarified that company operations were not affected by what has happened. EXMO also added that Lerner did not have direct access to any cryptocurrency account or other personal data.

“We are doing everything possible to speed up the search of Pavel Lerner. Any information regarding his whereabouts is very much appreciated,” PR-department of EXMO said.

“Despite the situation, the exchange is working as usual. We also want to stress that nature of Pavel’s job at EXMO doesn’t assume access either to storages or any personal data of users. All users funds are absolutely safe.”

Pierluigi Paganini

(Security Affairs – Pavel Lerner, EXMO)

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