Iran’s Top Crypto Exchange Hit by Pro-Israel Hackers
A pro-Israel hacker group, Gonjeshke Darande, has targeted Iran’s largest crypto exchange, Nobitex. They claimed to have destroyed over $90 million in digital assets.
On June 18, the group announced via X that they had burned the funds using “vanity addresses.” These are blockchain addresses with no recoverable private keys, making the assets permanently inaccessible.
This attack follows a high-profile breach of nobitex, where over $90 million in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and other tokens were drained from hot wallets.The hackers framed the breach as a response to Nobitex’s alleged role in helping Iran circumvent sanctions.
Gonjeshke Darande,also known as Predatory Sparrow,linked the hack to ongoing tensions between Iran and Israel. Blockchain security platforms confirmed the stolen assets were sent to irretrievable addresses.
Some addresses included phrases targeting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. On Ethereum, tokens were sent to the “0x…dead” burn address.
Nobitex acknowledged the burn but assured users that their assets are safe in cold storage. The exchange said its staff had emptied hot wallets as a precaution.
The attackers also threatened to release Nobitex’s source code and internal data. They warned users to withdraw assets immediately.
This hack shows how state-level conflicts are turning crypto infrastructure into a new battlefield.
