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Elliptic enables financial institutions and cryptocurrency businesses to manage risk on the blockchain by using technology-enabled crypto AML compliance.
Iranian crypto exchange Nobitex has processed at least $2.3 billion in transactions since 2023
According to a Reuters report, Nobitex—the largest cryptocurrency exchange in Iran—has processed at least approximately $2.3 billion in funds via the Tron and BNB Smart Chain networks since 2023. Some of these funds originated from the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), which is under U.S. sanctions, and are linked to other sanctioned entities, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hamas, and Hezbollah. Data from blockchain analytics firms Arkham and Elliptic, along with insights from multiple analysts, indicate that related transactions on Tron alone exceeded $2 billion, while those on BNB Smart Chain totaled approximately $317 million; tens of millions of dollars continued flowing even after hostilities erupted. The report notes that Tron was founded by Justin Sun, and BNB Smart Chain was launched by Binance; both blockchains intersect financially and governance-wise with World Liberty Financial—a crypto project led by Donald Trump. Since its founding in 2018, Nobitex’s sanctioned-related transactions have cumulatively amounted to at least approximately $366 million.
Russian exchange Grinex suspends operations after ~$15 million attack
According to The Block, Grinex—a Russia-linked cryptocurrency exchange—suspended withdrawals and trading on Thursday after suffering a hack reportedly worth approximately $15 million. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic stated that the stolen funds consisted of USDT, which were subsequently moved across the Tron and Ethereum networks and swapped for TRX and ETH to reduce the risk of being frozen by Tether. Grinex said its wallet infrastructure was hit by a “large-scale cyberattack,” resulting in losses exceeding 1 billion rubles—approximately $13.1 million. Reports indicate Grinex is widely regarded as one of the successor platforms to sanctioned exchange Garantex, which U.S. authorities targeted last year for facilitating hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit fund flows.
Circle Faces Class-Action Lawsuit for Failing to Freeze Stolen Funds from Drift Protocol
According to Cointelegraph, stablecoin issuer Circle faces a class-action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts for failing to freeze stolen funds during the Drift Protocol hack on April 1. Plaintiffs allege that attackers transferred approximately $230 million worth of USDC from Solana to Ethereum via Circle’s cross-chain transfer protocol (CCTP) within hours—and that Circle failed to intervene. The lawsuit accuses Circle of aiding and abetting conversion and of negligence. Cryptocurrency analytics firm Elliptic previously suspected the attack may be linked to North Korea–backed hackers; the stolen funds were subsequently converted into ETH and laundered through Tornado Cash.
Russian exchange Grinex suspends operations after ~$15 million attack
According to The Block, Grinex—a Russia-linked cryptocurrency exchange—suspended withdrawals and trading on Thursday after suffering a hack reportedly worth approximately $15 million. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic stated that the stolen funds consisted of USDT, which were subsequently moved across the Tron and Ethereum networks and swapped for TRX and ETH to reduce the risk of being frozen by Tether. Grinex said its wallet infrastructure was hit by a “large-scale cyberattack,” resulting in losses exceeding 1 billion rubles—approximately $13.1 million. Reports indicate Grinex is widely regarded as one of the successor platforms to sanctioned exchange Garantex, which U.S. authorities targeted last year for facilitating hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit fund flows.
U.S. law firm launches class-action litigation investigation into Drift Protocol hack, targeting Circle
U.S. law firm Gibbs Mura has launched a class-action litigation investigation into the April 1, 2026, hack of Drift Protocol, reviewing potential investor claims against Circle Internet Financial. The attack resulted in the theft of approximately $280–285 million in assets. The attacker subsequently used Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) to bridge over $230 million worth of USDC to Ethereum—Circle took no action to freeze the funds throughout the incident. Notably, just nine days prior, Circle had voluntarily frozen 16 business wallets in a separate civil dispute. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic suspects the attack was carried out by a North Korea–backed hacking group. As a result of the breach, Drift Protocol’s total value locked (TVL) plummeted from $550 million to below $250 million, the DRIFT token price dropped more than 40%, and at least 20 DeFi protocols suffered indirect losses.
Circle Faces Class-Action Lawsuit for Failing to Freeze Stolen Funds from Drift Protocol
According to Cointelegraph, stablecoin issuer Circle faces a class-action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts for failing to freeze stolen funds during the Drift Protocol hack on April 1. Plaintiffs allege that attackers transferred approximately $230 million worth of USDC from Solana to Ethereum via Circle’s cross-chain transfer protocol (CCTP) within hours—and that Circle failed to intervene. The lawsuit accuses Circle of aiding and abetting conversion and of negligence. Cryptocurrency analytics firm Elliptic previously suspected the attack may be linked to North Korea–backed hackers; the stolen funds were subsequently converted into ETH and laundered through Tornado Cash.
U.S. law firm launches class-action litigation investigation into Drift Protocol hack, targeting Circle
U.S. law firm Gibbs Mura has launched a class-action litigation investigation into the April 1, 2026, hack of Drift Protocol, reviewing potential investor claims against Circle Internet Financial. The attack resulted in the theft of approximately $280–285 million in assets. The attacker subsequently used Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) to bridge over $230 million worth of USDC to Ethereum—Circle took no action to freeze the funds throughout the incident. Notably, just nine days prior, Circle had voluntarily frozen 16 business wallets in a separate civil dispute. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic suspects the attack was carried out by a North Korea–backed hacking group. As a result of the breach, Drift Protocol’s total value locked (TVL) plummeted from $550 million to below $250 million, the DRIFT token price dropped more than 40%, and at least 20 DeFi protocols suffered indirect losses.
Related news
Quantum Computers Crack 15-bit ECC Keys; Bitcoin’s 256-bit Security Remains Unthreatened—But Migration Countdown Accelerates
According to CryptoSlate, Project Eleven awarded the Q-Day Prize to researcher Giancarlo Lelli on April 24 for successfully deriving a 15-bit elliptic curve private key from its public key using publicly accessible quantum hardware—the largest publicly demonstrated instance of its kind to date, representing a 512-fold improvement over the prior 6-bit demonstration in September 2025. Lelli employed a variant of Shor’s algorithm tailored to the Elliptic Curve Discrete Logarithm Problem (ECDLP), the mathematical foundation of Bitcoin’s signature scheme; the award-winning hardware comprised approximately 70 qubits. Currently, no known quantum computer can break real Bitcoin wallets, and Bitcoin’s 256-bit elliptic curve security remains far beyond the capabilities of existing quantum systems. Notably, Google revised downward its resource estimates for ECDLP-256 on March 31 and set a post-2029 target for migration to quantum-resistant cryptography; Cloudflare promptly followed suit, and the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) established migration milestones between 2028 and 2035. On-chain data indicates that roughly 6.93 million BTC are currently exposed to potential quantum risk due to publicly revealed public keys. The Bitcoin community has proposed BIP 360 and BIP 361 to facilitate migration toward quantum-resistant output types; however, coordination across the decentralized network remains the greatest challenge.
Iranian crypto exchange Nobitex has processed at least $2.3 billion in transactions since 2023
According to a Reuters report, Nobitex—the largest cryptocurrency exchange in Iran—has processed at least approximately $2.3 billion in funds via the Tron and BNB Smart Chain networks since 2023. Some of these funds originated from the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), which is under U.S. sanctions, and are linked to other sanctioned entities, including the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Hamas, and Hezbollah. Data from blockchain analytics firms Arkham and Elliptic, along with insights from multiple analysts, indicate that related transactions on Tron alone exceeded $2 billion, while those on BNB Smart Chain totaled approximately $317 million; tens of millions of dollars continued flowing even after hostilities erupted. The report notes that Tron was founded by Justin Sun, and BNB Smart Chain was launched by Binance; both blockchains intersect financially and governance-wise with World Liberty Financial—a crypto project led by Donald Trump. Since its founding in 2018, Nobitex’s sanctioned-related transactions have cumulatively amounted to at least approximately $366 million.
Circle Faces Class-Action Lawsuit for Failing to Freeze Stolen Funds from Drift Protocol
According to Cointelegraph, stablecoin issuer Circle faces a class-action lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts for failing to freeze stolen funds during the Drift Protocol hack on April 1. Plaintiffs allege that attackers transferred approximately $230 million worth of USDC from Solana to Ethereum via Circle’s cross-chain transfer protocol (CCTP) within hours—and that Circle failed to intervene. The lawsuit accuses Circle of aiding and abetting conversion and of negligence. Cryptocurrency analytics firm Elliptic previously suspected the attack may be linked to North Korea–backed hackers; the stolen funds were subsequently converted into ETH and laundered through Tornado Cash.
Russian exchange Grinex suspends operations after ~$15 million attack
According to The Block, Grinex—a Russia-linked cryptocurrency exchange—suspended withdrawals and trading on Thursday after suffering a hack reportedly worth approximately $15 million. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic stated that the stolen funds consisted of USDT, which were subsequently moved across the Tron and Ethereum networks and swapped for TRX and ETH to reduce the risk of being frozen by Tether. Grinex said its wallet infrastructure was hit by a “large-scale cyberattack,” resulting in losses exceeding 1 billion rubles—approximately $13.1 million. Reports indicate Grinex is widely regarded as one of the successor platforms to sanctioned exchange Garantex, which U.S. authorities targeted last year for facilitating hundreds of millions of dollars in illicit fund flows.
U.S. law firm launches class-action litigation investigation into Drift Protocol hack, targeting Circle
U.S. law firm Gibbs Mura has launched a class-action litigation investigation into the April 1, 2026, hack of Drift Protocol, reviewing potential investor claims against Circle Internet Financial. The attack resulted in the theft of approximately $280–285 million in assets. The attacker subsequently used Circle’s Cross-Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) to bridge over $230 million worth of USDC to Ethereum—Circle took no action to freeze the funds throughout the incident. Notably, just nine days prior, Circle had voluntarily frozen 16 business wallets in a separate civil dispute. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic suspects the attack was carried out by a North Korea–backed hacking group. As a result of the breach, Drift Protocol’s total value locked (TVL) plummeted from $550 million to below $250 million, the DRIFT token price dropped more than 40%, and at least 20 DeFi protocols suffered indirect losses.