Pro-Israel hackers nab $90 million from Iranian crypto exchange - then burn it all in symbolic blockchain move

An Israeli operatives-linked hacking group known as Predatory Sparrow, also known as Gonjeshke Darande, claimed that it stole over $90 million from Iran’s largest crypto exchange, Nobitex, only to destroy the money instead of keeping it, so as to send a political message, as per a report.

Israeli-Linked Hackers Strike Iranian Crypto Exchange

The attack comes at a time of heightened tensions between Iran and Israel, and the hackers made their motives clear as the group posted on social media platform X, “These cyberattacks are the result of Nobitex being a key regime tool for financing terrorism and violating sanctions,” quoted Fortune.

Hackers didn’t keep a single cent

Crypto analytics firm Elliptic revealed that instead of cashing out the $90 million of Bitcoin, Dogecoin, and over 100 different cryptocurrencies that Predatory Sparrow raided, the hacking group chose just to destroy, “burn” in crypto parlance, the funds, as they wanted to send a political message, according to the report.


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Why the Hack Was Meant to Send a Message

As per Fortune, the blockchain addresses, or locations in a database that record how much money someone has, are usually randomly generated, which usually consist of a garbled string of numbers and letters. However, for this operation, Predatory Sparrow sent the hacked funds to addresses that included the phrase “F***iRGCTerrorists,” where IRGC refers to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, a branch of the Iranian army, reported Fortune.

The lead crypto threat researcher at Elliptic, Arda Akartuna, explained that “To generate addresses with so many specific terms inside it would require so much computing power that you’re not going to do it within any reasonable lifetime,” as quoted in the report. Akartuna pointed out that, “So, it seems to have been more of a symbolic hack, as opposed to one where the intention is financial,” quoted Fortune.

Nobitex responds

While, Nobitex wrote on its X account after the hack, saying, “The vast majority of assets are stored in cold wallets and were not impacted,” as quoted in the report.

FAQs

Who carried out the hack on Nobitex?
A group called Predatory Sparrow, believed to be linked to Israeli intelligence, claimed responsibility.

What did the hackers do with the money?
They destroyed it as they “burned” the funds, instead of profiting from the theft.