According to reports, Iranian cryptocurrency exchange Nobitex suffered a breach, with onchain data revealing that around $82 million was siphoned from its reserves. A hacker collective calling itself Predatory Sparrow has claimed responsibility for the coordinated hit on the centralized exchange (CEX).
Hackers Loot Iran’s Nobitex, Threaten Full Source Code Leak Within 24 Hours
On Wednesday, onchain sleuth ZachXBT shared findings that “the Iranian crypto exchange ‘Nobitex’ appears to have been exploited for $81.7 million on Tron, Bitcoin, Doge, and EVM chains.” The hacking group later confirmed its involvement through posts on its Telegram and X accounts.
“In 24 hours, we will release Nobitex’s source code and internal information from their internal network,” Predatory Sparrow wrote on Telegram. “Any assets that remain there after that point will be at risk.”
Gonjeshke Darande, which translates to “Predatory Sparrow,” is a pseudonymous hacker entity that has claimed credit for multiple high-profile cyber intrusions targeting Iran’s critical systems. The group has previously infiltrated a national gas station network, paralyzed the railway grid, disrupted operations at the Khuzestan steel mill, and recently compromised the Iranian banking institution Bank Sepah.
The hackers used the following vanity addresses:
TKFuckiRGCTerroristsNoBiTEXy2r7mNX0xffFFfFFffFFffFfFffFFfFfFfFFFFfFfFFFFDead1FuckiRGCTerroristsNoBiTEXXXaAovLXDFuckiRGCTerroristsNoBiTEXXXWLW65t
The initial wallet contains $49.42 million in Tron-issued tether ( USDT). The second address holds a diverse mix of tokens from Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible chains, amounting to $24.04 million. A third wallet safeguards 18.472 BTC, valued at $1.92 million at the time of writing. Finally, the fourth address houses DOGE holdings totaling $6.61 million.
“The Nobitex exchange is at the heart of the regime’s efforts to finance terror worldwide, as well as being the regime’s favorite sanctions violation tool,” the hackers said on X. “These cyberattacks are the result of Nobitex being a key regime tool for financing terrorism and violating sanctions. Associating with regime terror financing and sanction violation infrastructure puts your assets at risk.”
At press time, Nobitex still holds over $92 million in onchain value.
