Hackers say they wiped out $90 million from Iran cryptocurrency exchange

Hackers with possible links to Israel have drained more than $90 million from Nobitex, Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, according to blockchain analytics firms.

The group that claimed responsibility for the hack leaks today what it said was the company’s full source code. “ASSETS LEFT IN NOBITEX ARE NOW ENTIRELY OUT IN THE OPEN,” the group writes on its Telegram account.

The stolen funds were transferred to addresses bearing messages that criticized Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic writes in a blog post. It says the attack likely was not financially motivated as the wallets the hackers had poured the money into “effectively burned the funds in order to send Nobitex a political message.”

The hackers group, Gonjeshke Darande — “Predatory Sparrow” in Farsi — accused Nobitex of having helped Iran’s government to evade Western sanctions over the country’s rapidly advancing nuclear program and transfer money to militants, in a post on X claiming the attack.

Nobitex appears to have confirmed the attack. Its app and website were down as it assessed “unauthorized access” to its systems, it says in a post on X.