Exposing Iran's Nobitex Exchange: The Founder Is Actually a Power Elite Family, Secret Funding Chain of the Revolutionary Guards Revealed

Iranian exchange Nobitex was reportedly besieged due to involvement tied to the elite Kharrazi family, which was founded by powerful figures and used aliases to conceal their identities. The platform is viewed as a parallel financial system used to evade sanctions, with extensive fund flows involving the Central Bank of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The shadow of a wealthy family? The Kharrazi dynasty behind the Aghamir surname

Founded in 2018, Nobitex has grown to become Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange today, controlling roughly 70% of the country’s market trading share.

According to an in-depth investigation by Reuters, this digital-asset giant with more than 11 million users was founded by brothers Ali Kharrazi and Mohammad Kharrazi. In the early days of their entrepreneurial efforts and in various corporate records, the brothers deliberately used a relatively rare surname—“Aghamir”—to obscure their family’s deep ties to Iran’s highest core of power.

Image source: Israel Hayom The founders behind Nobitex are brothers Ali Kharrazi and Mohammad Kharrazi

The Kharrazi family wields striking influence across Iran’s political and religious circles. Their grandfather served as a member of the Assembly of Experts and even mentored Mojtaba Khamenei, the successor to the current Supreme Leader. Their father, Ayatollah Bagher Kharrazi, is also the founder of Hezbollah in Lebanon and participated in the early development of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). With a background rooted in power, Nobitex rapidly transformed from a campus startup into a key conduit supporting the country’s economic operations, even as it operated for years under international economic sanctions in Iran.

A national-level financial network: a secret funding chain from the central bank to the IRGC

The exchange has been identified as a “parallel financial system” used by Iran to evade international sanctions. Investigations show that Nobitex maintains extensive fund flows with sanctioned state entities, including the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Data from blockchain analytics firm Elliptic indicates that in just the first six months of 2025, the Central Bank of Iran transferred about $347 million in cryptocurrency to Nobitex, accumulating more than $507 million in Tether ($USDT). In addition, Iranian billionaire Babak Zanjani, who was convicted for fraud, leaked several wallet addresses during a public dispute with the central bank, enabling analysts to track at least 20 million in state funds flowing through those wallets.

Image source: Elliptic researchers used Elliptic Investigator to compile the fund flows of CBI crypto-asset wallets

Several former employees confirmed to the media that sanctioned state funds are indeed continuing to flow through the platform. The investigation even found that the exchange’s fund flows are linked to Iran-backed overseas proxies such as the Houthis. Its early major investor, Mohammad Bagher Nahvi, also has a company involved in supplying drones to Russia, which has been sanctioned by the United States.

Cryptography becomes a protective umbrella against economic sanctions

To ensure that the funds stored on the platform can effectively evade tracking by Western governments, Nobitex developed a sophisticated suite of obfuscation technologies. In annual reports, the founding brothers admitted that, under the pressure of international sanctions, they developed multiple encryption tools to blur the connections between wallet addresses, and they actively instructed users to use multi-wallet layered transactions to increase the difficulty of tracing.

Despite all the evidence, Nobitex officials have consistently insisted on its identity as a “private and independent company,” claiming there are no formal agreements with the government or the Revolutionary Guards.

To demonstrate its independence, the exchange even mentioned experiencing domestic pressure from the Iranian government—for example, the Revolutionary Guards had repeatedly searched offices in Tehran and arrested the then-CEO Amir Hosein Rad.

However, analysts believe these so-called conflicts may be necessary adaptations for survival within Iran’s unique political and economic environment. The platform currently claims that the illegal funds involved account for less than 3% of total trading volume, but regulators warn that mixing ordinary civilians with regime funds on the same platform makes sanctions enforcement extraordinarily difficult.

Geopolitics sparks capital flight! Global regulatory red lights amid sanctions escalation

Geopolitical instability further increased the frequency of cryptocurrency use in Iran. After recent U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Tehran, Nobitex’s outflow surged by 700% within just a few minutes, with daily outflow reaching as high as $10.3 million.

• Related news: Using cryptocurrencies for emergency hedging? In minutes after the U.S.-Israel airstrikes, Iranian exchange outflows surged 700%

This shows that when faced with internet blockades and domestic instability, crypto assets have become the preferred tool for transferring capital overseas for both Iran’s regime and its people. In response, the U.S. government launched a financial crackdown called “Operation Economic Fury,” seizing $500 million in crypto linked to Iran, and stablecoin issuer Tether also froze about $344 million in assets.

• Related news: $344 million USDT on the Tron chain frozen! Tether cooperates with law enforcement to block sanctions-evading addresses

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren said this is a loud wake-up call, adding that digital assets have become an alternative channel to challenge the U.S.-dominated global financial system. Although experts note that Iran’s Bitcoin mining capacity accounts for less than 1% of the global total and that even power outages would not cause catastrophic damage to global hash rates, Nobitex’s role as a “shadow bank” undoubtedly brings unprecedented challenges to global cryptocurrency regulation.