Kuna founder says he was tailed by unknown parties

The founder of the Kuna cryptocurrency exchange, Mikhail Chobanian said that he was subjected to surveillance organized by representatives of “certain structures.”

“For two weeks, I was tailed. Different people, different cars, dummy plates — all like in a movie,” he said.

Chobanian added that unknown observers were tracking his movements: “when I arrived at and left the office, whom I was meeting.”

According to the entrepreneur, this is being used to stage a provocation against the crypto community.

“When that moment arrives, I would like us to understand that this is an attack not against me, but against crypto in Ukraine and the Blockchain Association, of which I am president,” Chobanian said.

In a ForkLog interview, the Kuna founder said he does not plan to take any retaliatory actions for now:

“If there is an attack, there will be a response. If not, we will move on. This is a negative image for Ukraine. I am not interested in that at all.”

Back in November 2015, officers from Kyiv’s Cybercrime Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs conducted a search of Mikhail Chobanian’s apartment. The trigger was a criminal case opened against him the previous year on charges of illicit bitcoin operations. Subsequently, Chobanian won a case challenging the illegality of the search and recovered 39 units of equipment.

In April 2021, Kuna ranked 13th out of 30 in Forbes’ best technology startups in the country, with an estimated value of $50–100 million, according to Forbes.

Follow ForkLog’s Bitcoin news on our Telegram — cryptocurrency news, rates and analysis.