“It is very unusual to see millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency burned with the sole purpose of causing disruption and making a political statement,” remarks Lidia López Sanz, Strategic Research Lead at Outpost2. “There have been other major attacks on cryptocurrency exchanges, for example the North Korean state-sponsored group Lazarus is well known for such attacks, but those had mainly a financial gain motivation. In this case, Gonjeshke Darande appears to have chosen to not steal the funds for profit, but in order to deliver a stronger message.”

This theft ranges across various cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Dogecoin, Ethereum and more. This hack is an apparent result of the escalating tensions between Israel and Iran.