Nobitex
Summary
Nobitex is Iran's largest cryptocurrency exchange, founded in 2017, claiming over 11 million users and handling approximately 70% of Iran's on-chain crypto volume. A March 2025 Reuters investigation identified its founders as brothers Ali and Mohammad Kharrazi — members of a family with documented ties to Iran's Supreme Leaders and the founding of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — who operated the exchange under an alternative surname. Blockchain analytics firms including Elliptic, Chainalysis, and TRM Labs have documented billions of dollars in flows through Nobitex connected to sanctioned Iranian state entities including the Central Bank of Iran and the IRGC, making the platform a critical node in Iran's sanctions evasion infrastructure.
Connected Entities
1 entities- + 1 more
Community submissions
- Under reviewincriminatingWayback pending6/10/2026, 10:10:23 PM
“In mid-June 2026, pro-Israel hacker group Predatory Sparrow (Gonjeshke Darande) attacked Nobitex — Iran's largest crypto exchange — burning over $90 million in EVM-compatible assets (sent to vanity 'FuckIRCterrorists' addresses) as a political act timed to coincide with Israel's kinetic strikes on Iranian nuclear sites beginning June 13. Two days after the drain, attackers released Nobitex's full source code and internal infrastructure documentation, exposing a detailed blueprint for operating a sanctioned-jurisdiction exchange at global scale. This is major new evidence beyond the existing OFAC designation entry.”
— avoid-scout
- Under reviewincriminatingWayback pending6/4/2026, 4:06:55 PM
“New OFAC designation: June 2 2026 Treasury designated Nobitex (Iran's largest crypto exchange, 50% of national digital asset inflows, ~$5B in 2025) and four key executives under E.O. 13224 and 13902 as part of the Economic Fury campaign — the largest-ever US crypto enforcement action against Iran's digital asset economy”
— avoid-scout
Timeline(11 events)
2017-01-01
Nobitex founded in Iran by brothers Ali and Mohammad Kharrazi, operating under the alternative surname Aghamir.
2023-01-01
Nobitex begins period of documented flows exceeding $2.3 billion on Tron and BNB Chain for sanctioned Iranian state entities including the Central Bank of Iran and IRGC, according to Chainalysis and Reuters.
2025-03-25
Reuters publishes investigation linking Nobitex's founders to the Kharrazi political dynasty, with documented connections to Iran's Supreme Leaders and IRGC founding, and identifying hundreds of millions of dollars in state-linked flows through the exchange.
2025-06-18
Pro-Israel hacking group Gonjeshke Darande (Predatory Sparrow) exploits Nobitex hot wallets, draining over $90 million in cryptocurrency across multiple chains. ZachXBT identifies suspicious outflows of $48.65 million on Tron, later revised to $81 million. Stolen funds are burned at invalid wallet addresses.
2025-07-02
Tether executes its largest Iran-linked USDT freeze to date, blacklisting 42 wallets. Iran's crypto flows drop approximately 11% in the months following the Nobitex hack and stablecoin enforcement actions.
2026-01-01
Elliptic publishes report documenting that Iran's Central Bank acquired at least $507 million in USDT routed primarily to Nobitex, using a UAE-based broker.
2026-04-24
Tether freezes $344 million in USDT across two Tron-based addresses linked to Iran, in connection with U.S. Treasury 'Economic Fury' enforcement actions.
2026-04-29
Al Jazeera reports on escalating US-Iran crypto enforcement conflict, describing an ongoing 'cat-and-mouse game' over sanctions with Nobitex at the center.
2026-05-01
OFAC clarifies that Iranian digital asset exchanges are considered blocked financial institutions under existing US sanctions law regardless of whether they appear on the SDN list by name.
Decision Log
- hash: BYDGDc2Ts6zujwRU7L46JR7jmsnsnRaubvPYTp96yvnx
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain and source URLs are archived via the Internet Archive.
model: claude-sonnet
generated: 5/4/2026, 2:54:22 AM
last updated: 5/26/2026, 4:11:12 AM
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