The group claims to have “burned” the equivalent of almost one billion kronor from the cryptocurrency bank Nobitex. This means that they sent the money to digital wallets that are impossible to access.
”After the Revolutionary Guard's Bank Sepah, it's Nobitex's turn”, writes the group Gonjeshke Darande on X.
Gonjeshke Darande can be translated to ”Sparrow”.
Nobitex has previously been described as Iran's largest cryptocurrency exchange and is said to have ties to relatives of the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
The hack appears not to have been made for profit, since the “burned” money is inaccessible even to Gonjeshke Darande, writes Elliptic. But based on usernames and other data, the group is pro-Israel and views the Iranian regime as terrorists.
According to previous media reports, the ”Sparrow” has also targeted banks such as Sepah, which is said to have resulted in ATMs in Iran not working and Iranians not being able to access their accounts.
High-ranking politicians in the US have previously warned of the consequences of Iranians turning to cryptocurrencies to get around the Western world's sanctions against the country, writes the news agency AP.
