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4h ago

Israel-Linked Hackers Breach Iran’s Nobitex, Destroy Over $90 Million in Crypto

Gonjeshke Darande cast the breach as punishment for sanctions evasion, threatening to publish the exchange’s source code

Representations of cryptocurrency Binance are seen in front of displayed Nobitex logo and Iran flag in this illustration taken November 3, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
Smoke over the Iranian capital of Tehran after Israeli missile strikes on Sunday.

Overview

  • On June 18, the group Gonjeshke Darande seized control of Nobitex wallets, extracting between $82 million and $90 million in Bitcoin, Dogecoin and tokens across TRON and EVM chains.
  • Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic identified the funds routed to anti-IRGC vanity addresses likely beyond hacker control, indicating a symbolic destruction of assets rather than theft for profit.
  • Gonjeshke Darande accused Nobitex of acting as a “terror-financing tool” for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps by facilitating crypto-based sanctions evasion.
  • The hacking collective threatened to release Nobitex’s internal data and source code within 24 hours, putting any remaining user funds and platform integrity at risk.
  • The incident follows a separate Gonjeshke Darande attack on state-owned Bank Sepah and comes as missile exchanges between Israel and Iran heighten regional tensions.