Pavel Lerner

Pavel Lerner (; born 2 February 1977) is a Russian cryptocurrency and blockchain entrepreneur. He is the chief executive officer of the cryptocurrency exchange Exmo Finance.
Biography.
Lerner was born in Kursk.
In 2001, he graduated from Kursk State University.
He has been serving as CEO of Exmo Finance since May 2012.
On December 26, 2017, Lerner was kidnapped as he left work in Kyiv, Ukraine. A group of men wearing balaclavas dragged him into a black Mercedes-Benz.
Following news of his kidnapping, Exmo Finance's website suffered a distributed denial-of-Service attack where trading was affected temporarily.
On December 29, 2017, Lerner was released unharmed by his captors after a ransom of $1 million was paid in Bitcoin according to information given by an adviser to the Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs to Reuters on the 29th.
In a statement released by Exmo Finance, the company wrote, "At the moment, he [Pavel Lerner] is safe, and there was no physical harm inflicted on him,” the statement said. “Nevertheless, Pavel is currently in a state of major stress, therefore, he will not provide any official comments in the coming days.”
In November 2019, Lerner decided to withdraw from all projects and terminate consulting contracts with all clients in order to fully focus on managing the Utorg cryptocurrency exchange.