Autor Cointelegraph by Amin Haqshanas

Nobitex, Iran’s biggest crypto exchange, was founded by two brothers from one of the Islamic Republic’s most influential families with ties to the supreme leaders, according to a Reuters investigation.The exchange, which now accounts for the majority share of Iran’s crypto activity, was launched by Ali and Mohammad Kharrazi. The duo operated under the alternative surname “Aghamir,” which they used across corporate records and professional life, masking links to the Kharrazi dynasty, according to the report.The Kharrazi family has long occupied positions close to the country’s leadership, with ties spanning generations of power, including links to Ali Khamenei and his successor Mojtaba Khamenei.Ali and Mohammad’s grandfather reportedly served on the Assembly of Experts, the body responsible for appointing Iran’s supreme leader, and once tutored Mojtaba Khamenei. Their father, Ayatollah Bagher Kharrazi, founded an Iranian political group named Hezbollah and was involved in early staffing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps following the 1979 revolution, per the report.Related: Iran is Weighing Crypto Tolls for Ships using Strait of Hormuz: ReportNobitex remains operational even during war timesNobitex, which reportedly serves over 11 million customers, has remained operational throughout the ongoing conflict involving the United States and Israel, even during a nationwide internet blackout. Analysts told Reuters that more than $100 million in transactions were processed during the war, with significant outflows moving abroad.At the same time, investigators cited by Reuters say the platform has processed transactions linked to sanctioned entities. However, estimates vary. Analytics firm Elliptic identified roughly $366 million in suspect flows, while Chainalysis placed the figure closer to $68 million and Crystal Intelligence identified about $22 million in direct transfers from sanctioned wallets.Separate findings indicate wallets associated with Iran’s central bank sent hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of cryptocurrency to Nobitex in 2025, part of a broader strategy to bypass financial restrictions. A dispute involving businessman Babak Zanjani also exposed wallet addresses that analysts say revealed at least $20 million in routed state funds.The post by Babak Zanjani, an Iranian billionaire convicted of fraud, criticises the Central Bank of Iran. Source: ReutersNobitex has reportedly denied any government affiliation, claiming that illicit transactions represent a small share of overall activity.Related: Iran views BTC as strategic asset, but USDt still dominates oil tolls: BPIUS seizes $500 million in Iranian cryptoAs Cointelegraph reported, the US has seized nearly $500 million in cryptocurrency linked to Iran, significantly expanding its financial crackdown under a campaign known as Operation Economic Fury.The latest figure marks a sharp increase from previously disclosed totals, including $344 million in frozen digital assets, with stablecoin issuer Tether assisting in freezing funds.Magazine: Will the CLARITY Act be good — or bad — for DeFi?Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

New York Attorney General Letitia James has secured more than $5 million from cryptocurrency platform Uphold over its role in promoting a fraudulent investment product.The settlement centers around Uphold’s promotion of CredEarn, a product offered by Cred, LLC and its CEO Daniel Schatt. Between January 2019 and October 2020, the platform marketed CredEarn to users on its platform and mobile app as a safe, reliable savings product with attractive annual interest payments.However, Uphold didn’t tell customers that Cred was generating those returns by making microloans to low-income video game players in China, who are typically borrowers with no credit histories and no access to traditional financial institutions, the Attorney General’s office said in an announcement.  Source: NY AG JamesUphold also told customers that Cred carried “comprehensive insurance,” a claim the Attorney General’s office found to be false. No such insurance protecting retail investors from digital asset losses existed in the industry at the time. On top of the misleading promotion, Uphold was operating without the required broker or commodity broker-dealer registration.Related: Canada Proposes Crypto ATM Ban to Tackle Scams, Money LaunderingCred collapse hits Uphold usersCred began racking up losses from its risky lending practices in March 2020 and filed for bankruptcy eight months later, leaving thousands of Uphold customers around the world holding the bag, according to the announcement.Under the settlement, Uphold will pay $5 million directly to affected customers, more than five times the fees it collected from the arrangement. Any funds Uphold recovers from Cred’s ongoing bankruptcy proceedings, where it is owed $545,189, will also be passed on to harmed investors. Affected users will be notified by email when the funds hit their accounts.“Investors should be able to trust the industry advice they receive,” James said, “and my office will always work to ensure bad actors are held accountable for endangering their customers’ financial security.”Related: US Gov’t Sues Four States, RWAs Cross $30 billionNew York’s legal run-up with CFTCLast month, New York sued Coinbase and Gemini, claiming their prediction market offerings violated state gambling laws.The CFTC fired back by suing New York in federal court, arguing that federal law gives it sole authority over prediction markets and asking for a permanent injunction to block the state’s enforcement actions.Magazine: AI-driven hacks could kill DeFi — unless projects act nowCointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

A16z has thrown its weight behind the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) in a growing federal-state standoff over prediction markets, opposing state regulators that try to shut down platforms like Kalshi and Polymarket.The venture capital heavyweight submitted the letter on Thursday in response to the CFTC’s advance notice of proposed rulemaking on prediction markets. It argues that state-level crackdowns, ranging from cease-and-desist letters to criminal charges, are creating barriers that undermine the federal agency’s mandate to provide “impartial access to its markets and services.”In recent weeks alone, the CFTC has filed lawsuits against Illinois, Arizona, Connecticut, New York and Wisconsin, claiming that those states overstepped by trying to regulate markets that fall under federal jurisdiction. A16z backed that position, arguing that forcing exchanges to block users based on their state of residence directly conflicts with the CFTC’s impartial access rules.“Being forced to deny impartial access to users in states that seek to license or prohibit certain event contracts will likely severely circumscribe available liquidity,” the firm wrote.Related: Prediction market battle gets closer to Supreme CourtCFTC gets to define gaming: A16zState attorneys general have countered that platforms offering contracts on sports outcomes and political events are running unlicensed gambling operations. A16z pushed back on that framing, arguing that the CFTC, not state legislatures, holds the authority to define what constitutes “gaming” under federal commodities law, given the agency’s decades of oversight over event contracts.Beyond the jurisdictional fight, a16z also made a case for the social value of prediction markets, describing their pricing mechanisms as a distinct form of price discovery that surfaces crowd intelligence on uncertain outcomes. The firm also showed support for blockchain-based platforms, claiming that the onchain auditability of transactions makes regulatory oversight more effective.Kalshi and Polymarket trading volume. Source: Token TerminalThe letter arrives amid the growing popularity of these platforms. As Cointelegraph reported, monthly trading volume reached $25.7 billion in March, with more than 80% of users classified as retail, defined as those trading less than $10,000.Related: Kalshi, Polymarket among 27 prediction platforms banned in BrazilPolymarket wants back into the USPolymarket is in talks with the CFTC to lift the ban that has kept American users off its main platform since a 2022 settlement, in which the company paid a $1.4 million penalty and agreed to block US customers over unregistered event contracts.A full return would require a formal commission vote, though the process may move faster given that four of the CFTC’s commissioner seats are currently vacant.Magazine: How to fix suspected insider trading on Polymarket and KalshiCointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

Riot Platforms posted $167.2 million in revenue for the first quarter of 2026, with its newly launched data center business contributing $33.2 million.The data center revenue helped offset a decline in Riot’s core Bitcoin mining business, which fell to $111.9 million from $142.9 million in Q1 2025, driven by lower average Bitcoin prices and a 24% rise in the global network hash rate. Riot produced 1,473 Bitcoin during the quarter, down from 1,530 a year earlier, while the average cost to mine one coin increased to $44,629 from $43,808, according to an announcement.“The first quarter of 2026 marks a definitive inflection point for Riot, as we officially transitioned into an active, revenue-generating data center operator,” CEO Jason Les said, adding that AMD’s decision to double its contracted capacity to 50 megawatts during the quarter validated the company’s ability to execute at institutional scale.AMD had initially contracted 25 megawatts before exercising an option to expand, bringing total contracted capacity to 50 megawatts of critical IT infrastructure.Related: CoreWeave shows how crypto-era infrastructure quietly became AI’s backboneRiot holds $1.1 billion in BitcoinRiot ended the quarter holding 15,679 Bitcoin, valued at roughly $1.1 billion based on a March 31 price of $68,222, with 5,802 coins held as collateral. The company maintained $282.5 million in cash, of which $76.9 million is restricted. Riot also said it sold more than $250 million worth of Bitcoin during the quarter.Meanwhile, engineering revenue, which covers infrastructure services, rose to $22.2 million from $13.9 million year-over-year, adding another layer of diversification to the company’s revenue mix.Riot’s stock closed up 7.31% at $18.50 on Friday, surging on the earnings release. The stock slipped 0.57% in after-hours trading to $18.40.Riot shares surge on earnings news. Source: Yahoo! FinanceRelated: Bitcoin Miner Bitdeer Liquidates Entire BTC Treasury, Holdings Fall to ZeroBitcoin miners shift to AIBitcoin miners are increasingly shifting toward AI infrastructure as tightening mining margins push the industry to seek more stable revenue streams. As Cointelegraph reported, Core Scientific is converting its Pecos, Texas site into a 1.5-gigawatt AI-focused data center campus, repurposing 300 megawatts of Bitcoin mining capacity and acquiring over 200 acres of land to support the buildout.Among other miners, MARA Holdings has acquired a majority stake in French AI infrastructure firm Exaion, while Hive, Hut 8, TeraWulf and Iren are also converting mining facilities into data centers.Magazine: Bitcoin will not hit $1M by 2030, says veteran trader Peter BrandtCointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.

The Ethereum Foundation has completed a third over-the-counter (OTC) sale of ETH to BitMine Immersion Technologies, offloading another 10,000 ETH at an average price of $2,292 per coin, worth roughly $22.9 million.“This sale funds the Ethereum Foundation’s core operations and activities, including protocol R&D, ecosystem development, community grant funding and more,” the Foundation wrote in a Friday post on X.The sale follows a nearly identical 10,000 ETH transaction completed just one week earlier at $2,387 per coin. The Foundation’s first sale to BitMine came in March, when it sold 5,000 ETH at around $2,043. Combined, the Foundation has sold approximately $47 million worth of ETH to BitMine in the past week alone.Ethereum Foundation sells 10,000 ETH. Source: Ethereum FoundationThe move also comes after the foundation unstaked 17,035 ETH worth roughly $40 million last week, apparently dropping its stated goal of 70,000 staked ETH.Related: These 3 Ethereum metrics favor an ETH price rally to $6KEF under scrutiny over ETH salesThe repeated sales have drawn criticism from the community. “Why do you need $46 million in 2 weeks?! How much are you guys burning and what for? Why is no one from the devs taking ETH directly as payment?!” one user wrote in response to the announcement.The Foundation has faced scrutiny over its ETH sales before, and at one point last year said it planned to limit them. It has since moved to offset some of that pressure by staking a portion of its holdings.ETH is currently trading at around $2,303, largely flat over the past day, according to data from CoinMarketCap. However, the token is down by more than 53% compared to its all-time high of $4,953 registered in August last year.Related: Ether treasuries need liquid staking edge to beat ETFs, says Lido execBitMine nears 5 million ETHBitMine, chaired by Tom Lee, is the largest Ethereum treasury company by holdings, with nearly 5 million ETH on its books. The milestone was reached after the firm added 101,901 ETH in its biggest weekly purchase of the year.The company has also been aggressively staking its holdings, with 83% of its cumulative ETH, around 4.19 million coins worth roughly $9.5 billion, now staked as of Thursday, up from about 70% the previous week.Magazine: Your guide to surviving this mini-crypto winterCointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This news article is produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy and aims to provide accurate and timely information. Readers are encouraged to verify information independently.