Crypto expert kidnapped, had to pay $1 million BTC ransom

Pavel Lerner was kidnapped earlier this week, with a gang wearing ski masks taking the cryptocurrency expert near his office in the Ukraine.

Lerner was held against his will, with the kidnappers demanding he pay them $1 million in Bitcoin as ransom. Lerner is a big Bitcoin expert in his country, doubling as an executive at Exmo, a large cryptocurrency exchange.

We don't know if Lerner transferred the $1 million in BTC himself, but he was released in the end. Exmo has said that the kidnappers didn't breach their network, and that the cryptocurrency exchange and their coins are "absolutely safe.

As for the $1 million in BTC that the kidnappers transferred, they're most likely shifted through the entire Bitcoin network, or could've been sold and the kidnappers are enjoying their money. Whatever has happened, this is the future of crime: cryptocurrency is easier to withdraw from victims' accounts than money.