Nobitex, Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, showed no signs of sustained user-driven growth following the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran, even though blockchain data showed a brief spike in activity and broader outflows from Iranian exchanges, according to separate analyzes by TRM Labs and Chainalytic.
TRM reportwhich examined onchain activity around Nobitex after the U.S.-Israeli attacks on Iran began on February 28, found that the platform saw a noticeable spike in activity immediately afterward, including transfers of more than $35 million from sizzling wallets to cool storage. However, TRM said the transfers were likely part of the exchange’s internal treasury operations.
“Based on historical behavior and portfolio assignment, these movements are the result of routine liquidity management rather than user-directed withdrawals,” the report said.
Nobitex is at the center of the Iranian crypto ecosystem. TRM estimated that since 2019, the exchange has processed transactions worth tens of billions of dollars, including more than $5 billion since 2025 alone.
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Nobitex is using Bitcoin mining reserves to recover from the hack
In June 2025, Nobitex suffered a $90 million hack following a cyberattack attributed to the Israel-linked Predatory Sparrow hacking group. The breach revealed details of Nobitex’s internal architecture, including a multi-layered escrow structure separating sizzling, toasty and cool wallets, as well as automated routing systems designed to manage transactions across different networks.
Following the hack, Nobitex partly relied on reserves tied to its previous Bitcoin (BTC) mining activities to stabilize its operations. TRM revealed that approximately $2.7 million from over 100 dormant mining-related wallets was consolidated shortly after the incident, suggesting that the exchange had released previously unused funds while restoring services.
Despite operational disruptions, Nobitex resumed operations in phases at the end of 2025.
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The outflow of cryptocurrencies from Iranian exchanges is growing rapidly
Meanwhile, Chainalytic reports revealed that between February 28 and Monday, approximately $10.3 million in digital assets left Iranian exchanges. Hourly outflows briefly rose to levels as much as 873% above average in 2026.
The report said the transfers could mean ordinary Iranians moving funds into self-custody to hedge against economic instability, while others could involve swapping liquidity or creating novel wallets to hide activity under sanctions pressure. Another possibility is that state-linked entities exploit national exchanges to move funds across borders.
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