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Why Pro-Israel Group’s $90M Crypto Hack Could Be a Hammer Blow for Iran’s Regime

Published

3 месяца ago

19 июня, 2025

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Iranian cryptocurrency exchange Nobitex was hacked for around $90 million on Wednesday, on the surface of it an almost routine exploit in an industry that already dealt with a $223 million exchange exploit earlier this month.

Below the surface, it was anything but. Digging a little deeper reveals this was not simply a cash grab, in fact, not a cash grab at all, but a political message that could end up being a hammer blow to one of the primary combatants in the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

The hackers, the pro-Israel activist group Gonjeshke Darande, demonstrated their indifference to monetary gain by transferring the stolen funds to a series of inaccessible «vanity» wallets ladened with the words like «terrorist,» essentially burning those tokens forever.

Politically motivated sabotage

«This appears to be an act of politically motivated sabotage rather than a financially motivated hack,» Elliptic co-founder Tom Robinson said in an interview. «The use of vanity addresses seems to be motivated by wanting to send a message to Nobitex and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.»

The group, whose Farsi name means Predatory Sparrow, the following day leaked the exchange’s source code, leaving any remaining tokens on the platform vulnerable to theft.

«Bypassing sanctions doesn’t pay.» Gonjeshke Darande wrote on X alongside screenshots of the «vanity» wallets storing the stolen funds.

The regime has been under sanctions for years as due to international concerns over its human rights record and attempts to develop nuclear weapons. The European Union introduced sanctions in 2011 and has renewed them every year since, even strengthening them in the meantime. U.S. sanctions date back as far as 1979, to the Iranian Revolution.

Israel said Iran, which has has vowed to eliminate the Jewish state numerous times over the years, was on the verge of developing nuclear weapons. Iran says its program is purely peaceful. Last week, immediately before Israel’s air strikes, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had violated its non-proliferation commitments.

Gonjeshke Darande’s tweet refers to allegations about Iran’s use of cryptocurrency to evade the sanctions, echoing concerns Senators Elizabeth Warren and Angus King raised to former U.S. President Joe Biden in 2024.

Without Nobitex, Iran, a nation already hamstrung by oil and financial sanctions, may struggle to move capital around in a time of intense conflict. That could weaken its efforts to mobilize and launch attacks into Israel,.

The truth about vanity wallets

There has been some discussion about the vanity wallets. Does the group have access to the filched tokens, or have they been burned forever?

There is «practically zero chance attackers control these addresses,» Yehor Rudytsia, a security researcher at Hacken, told CoinDesk.

Creating the vanity addresses with a private key to unlock them «is computationally trivial task and might be done in micro/milliseconds,» Rudytsia said. But finding the 26-character private key would require as many as ~ 2¹⁵² trials. «It is practically infeasible to find the private key which maps to such a public address.»

Which means the money has gone.

Business

Crypto Trading Firm Keyrock Buys Luxembourg’s Turing Capital in Asset Management Push

Published

13 часов ago

16 сентября, 2025

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Crypto trading firm Keyrock said it’s expanding into asset and wealth management by acquiring Turing Capital, a Luxembourg-registered alternative investment fund manager.

The deal, announced on Tuesday, marks the launch of Keyrock’s Asset and Wealth Management division, a new business unit dedicated to institutional clients and private investors.

Keyrock, founded in Brussels, Belgium and best known for its work in market making, options and OTC trading, said it will fold Turing Capital’s investment strategies and Luxembourg fund management structure into its wider platform. The division will be led by Turing Capital co-founder Jorge Schnura, who joins Keyrock’s executive committee as president of the unit.

The company said the expansion will allow it to provide services across the full lifecycle of digital assets, from liquidity provision to long-term investment strategies. «In the near future, all assets will live onchain,» Schnura said, noting that the merger positions the group to capture opportunities as traditional financial products migrate to blockchain rails.

Keyrock has also applied for regulatory approval under the EU’s crypto framework MiCA through a filing with Liechtenstein’s financial regulator. If approved, the firm plans to offer portfolio management and advisory services, aiming to compete directly with traditional asset managers as well as crypto-native players.

«Today’s launch sets the stage for our longer-term ambition: bringing asset management on-chain in a way that truly meets institutional standards,» Keyrock CSO Juan David Mendieta said in a statement.

Business

Crypto Trading Firm Keyrock Buys Luxembourg’s Turing Capital in Asset Management Push

Published

13 часов ago

16 сентября, 2025

admin

Crypto trading firm Keyrock said it’s expanding into asset and wealth management by acquiring Turing Capital, a Luxembourg-registered alternative investment fund manager.

The deal, announced on Tuesday, marks the launch of Keyrock’s Asset and Wealth Management division, a new business unit dedicated to institutional clients and private investors.

Business

Gemini Shares Slide 6%, Extending Post-IPO Slump to 24%

Published

13 часов ago

16 сентября, 2025

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Gemini Space Station (GEMI), the crypto exchange founded by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, has seen its shares tumble by more than 20% since listing on the Nasdaq last Friday.

The stock is down around 6% on Tuesday, trading at $30.42, and has dropped nearly 24% over the past week. The sharp decline follows an initial surge after the company raised $425 million in its IPO, pricing shares at $28 and valuing the firm at $3.3 billion before trading began.

On its first day, GEMI spiked to $45.89 before closing at $32 — a 14% premium to its offer price. But since hitting that high, shares have plunged more than 34%, erasing most of the early enthusiasm from public market investors.

The broader crypto equity market has remained more stable. Coinbase (COIN), the largest U.S. crypto exchange, is flat over the past week. Robinhood (HOOD), which derives part of its revenue from crypto, is down 3%. Token issuer Circle (CRCL), on the other hand, is up 13% over the same period.

Part of the pressure on Gemini’s stock may stem from its financials. The company posted a $283 million net loss in the first half of 2025, following a $159 million loss in all of 2024. Despite raising fresh capital, the numbers suggest the business is still far from turning a profit.

Compass Point analyst Ed Engel noted that GEMI is currently trading at 26 times its annualized first-half revenue. That multiple — often used to gauge whether a stock is expensive — means investors are paying 26 dollars for every dollar the company is expected to generate in sales this year. For a loss-making company in a volatile sector, that’s a steep price, and could be fueling investor skepticism.