Leading Iranian crypto exchange Nobitex was founded by sons of elite political family tied to supreme leaders: Reuters

Nobitex, the dominant crypto exchange in Iran, was founded by two brothers from the Kharrazi family, a clan related by marriage to all three supreme leaders of the Islamic Republic, according to a lengthy Reuters investigation published Friday.

Reuters reported that brothers Ali and Mohammad Kharrazi registered the company in 2018 using the surname Aghamir Mohammad Ali, a name they used in corporate filings, university life and a Nobitex marketing brochure, while other relatives publicly use the Kharrazi name. The brothers founded the company alongside chief executive Amir Hosein Rad, who is not related to the family.

Their grandfather reportedly sat on the Assembly of Experts, the body that selects Iran’s supreme leader, and once tutored Mojtaba Khamenei, who succeeded his father Ali Khamenei as supreme leader after the Feb. 28 U.S. and Israeli airstrike. Their father, Ayatollah Bagher Kharrazi, founded the Iranian political organization Hezbollah, distinct from the Lebanese militia, and according to Reuters helped staff the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) after the 1979 revolution.

Reuters said it traced the link by cross-referencing Iranian corporate, government and banking records, and noted that the email address used to register the Nobitex domain in 2017 contained the Kharrazi name and was also used for a religious charity chaired by the brothers’ father.

In a statement to Reuters, Nobitex denied any government affiliation, said the brothers had not changed their identity and characterized any illicit funds moving through the platform as a “very small fraction of overall volume” that occurred without management’s awareness. Iran’s government did not respond to requests for comment from Reuters.

The exchange claims roughly 11 million users and handles about 70% of Iran’s crypto activity, according to figures cited in the Reuters report. The Block has previously covered Nobitex’s outsized role in the country’s sanctioned crypto ecosystem, including $11 billion in lifetime inflows tracked by Chainalysis.

State funds and sanctions evasion

Estimates of illicit volume on Nobitex vary widely across blockchain analytics firms. Reuters cited Elliptic identifying around $366 million in suspect flows, Chainalysis estimating closer to $68 million, and Crystal Intelligence pointing to roughly $22 million in direct transfers from sanctioned wallets. All three firms told Reuters the true figures are likely higher.

A separate Elliptic analysis cited by Reuters found that wallets controlled by the Central Bank of Iran sent about $347 million to Nobitex in the first half of 2025, part of a larger central bank crypto buying program Elliptic has previously documented.

Reuters also reported that one of Nobitex’s largest early backers, Mohammad Bagher Nahvi, is vice chairman of Safiran Airport Services, a company sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury in September 2022 for coordinating flights tied to Iranian drone shipments to Russia.

A 2025 spat between disgraced Iranian businessman Babak Zanjani and the Central Bank of Iran inadvertently exposed wallet addresses that allowed Crystal Intelligence and another analyst to identify at least $20 million in central bank funds that had been routed through Nobitex, according to Reuters.

Operating through the war

Nobitex has continued processing transactions throughout the ongoing U.S.-Israeli war in Iran, even during the nationwide internet blackout imposed Feb. 28, Reuters reported, citing Crystal Intelligence and other blockchain analytics firms.

Crystal Intelligence told Reuters that Nobitex has processed more than $100 million in transactions during the war, around 20% of normal activity, while $54 million has been withdrawn from the exchange since the conflict began, with much of it moving abroad to brokers who convert crypto to cash. The Block has previously reported on similar post-strike outflow surges tracked by Chainalysis.

Internet monitoring firm NetBlocks told Reuters that only 1% to 2% of Iranians, those on a “state-approved whitelist,” currently have internet access.

Sanctions gap

The U.S. Treasury announced new sanctions on April 28 targeting what it described as Iran’s shadow banking infrastructure, but Nobitex was not among the designated entities. Reuters reported it could find no indication that any member of the Kharrazi family had been sanctioned by Western governments.

In a statement to Reuters, Senator Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., ranking Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, called the findings a “flashing red light” and said adversaries are using digital assets to move funds outside the U.S.-led financial system.

Binance, which Reuters previously reported moved $7.8 billion for Nobitex clients despite U.S. sanctions, did not respond to questions from Reuters for the new report. Former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao was sentenced to prison in 2024 for money laundering violations and later pardoned by President Donald Trump in 2025.