Nobitex Hack: Pro-Israeli Hackers Burn Over $90M in BTC, ETH, DOGE

In an unprecedented move, the recent Nobitex hack has taken a dramatic turn. The Israeli hackers behind the attack, Gonjeshke Darande, burned a staggering $90 million in stolen digital assets, rendering the funds irretrievable across multiple blockchains.

$90M in BTC, ETH, DOGE Burned in Nobitex Hack

Following the high-profile Nobitex hack, Gonjeshke Darande, the Israeli hacker, has revealed the destruction of $90 million in stolen cryptocurrencies. These assets include Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Dogecoin (DOGE), and more.

In an X post, the hacker stated, “8 burn addresses burned $90M from the wallets of the regime’s favorite sanctions violation tool, Nobitex.” The group claimed to have destroyed the funds by transferring them to custom-generated ‘vanity addresses’ on multiple blockchains. These addresses were designed with unrecoverable private keys, rendering the assets irretrievable and permanently locked.

Yesterday, Nobitex faced a massive crypto hack as reported by CoinGape. Gonjeshke Darande, also known as Predatory Sparrow, claimed responsibility for the hack, stating it was retaliation for Nobitex’s alleged involvement in aiding the Iranian regime evade sanctions and finance terrorism.

Crypto Exchange Hack Escalates Iran-Israeli War Tensions

Notably, the Nobitex hack can be seen as an escalation of the ongoing Iran-Israel conflict, spilling into the digital realm. Adding more fuel to these geopolitical tensions, the hackers are threatening to release Nobitex’s source code to the public in 12 hours, potentially exposing vulnerabilities and compromising the platform’s security. They’re implying that users’ assets will be at risk if they remain on Nobitex, suggesting it might be wise to withdraw them.

While the Israeli hacker group has mentioned the irretrievable addresses, some of them contain provocative phrases, such as “FuckIRGCTerroristsNoBiTEX.” This indicates that the group is directly targeting Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Additionally, they utilized specific techniques to ensure the permanent loss of funds, including sending Ethereum tokens to the “0x…dead” burn address and creating a Bitcoin wallet with an invalid checksum, rendering it unspendable.

Nobitex Responds to Security Breach

In response to the Nobitex hack, the Iranian crypto exchange has released a fresh statement. The firm announced that the situation is now under control. They asserted that all external access to their servers was severed. The Iranian crypto exchange’s technical team proactively emptied hot wallets to protect user assets. This resulted in a significant reduction in visible holdings on blockchain networks.

Furthermore, they added that the hackers transferred the stolen funds, estimated to be around $100 million, to non-standard wallets. According to Nobitex, the Israeli hackers announced the destruction of the tokens with the intention of causing harm to users under false pretenses. Despite this move, the exchange emphasized that user assets are secure, citing,

We once again emphasize that user assets are covered by the Nobitex Reserve Fund, and no user funds will be lost. We remain committed to ensuring the safety of your holdings and maintaining your trust.