A pro-Israel hacker group has burned more than $90 million in stolen crypto after hacking Iran’s largest exchange, Nobitex. The group, known as Gonjeshke Darande or Predatory Sparrow, said they destroyed Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and other assets using unrecoverable blockchain addresses.
The group announced the move on June 18 in a post on X. “8 burn addresses burned $90M from the wallets of the regime’s favorite sanctions violation tool, Nobitex,” the post read. They claimed the destruction was in response to Nobitex helping the Iranian regime avoid sanctions and supporting terrorism.
The assets were sent to custom-made addresses that no one can access. Some of them even carried anti-Iran messages.
This move comes after the group hacked into Nobitex yesterday, as reported by The Coin Day, and rising tensions between Iran and Israel, including recent Israeli airstrikes on Tehran. The hackers said they plan to release Nobitex’s source code within 12 hours. They warned users that their funds may not be safe and suggested withdrawing assets from the platform.
Blockchain analysts confirmed that the stolen funds were not sent to exchanges or mixing tools. Instead, they were burned and are gone for good. Chainalysis was among the firms that verified the assets were lost and could not be recovered.
In response, in an X post, Nobitex said the issue is under control. The exchange stated that all outside access to its systems had been cut off. It also moved user assets from hot wallets to safer storage to prevent further losses.
Despite all this, the exchange emphasized that user assets are secure, stating, “We once again emphasize that the Nobitex Reserve Fund covers user assets, and no user funds will be lost. We remain committed to ensuring the safety of your holdings and maintaining your trust.”
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