Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange was founded and is controlled by two brothers from the Kharrazi family, one of the Islamic Republic’s most influential clerical dynasties and now closely tied to new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, a Reuters investigation has found. 

The exchange, Nobitex, has processed between tens and hundreds of millions of dollars in transactions linked to sanctioned Iranian institutions, including the country’s central bank and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), even as it has remained off Western sanctions lists. Brothers Ali and Mohammad Kharrazi founded Nobitex in 2018 under the alternative family name Aghamir and built it into the country’s dominant crypto platform, claiming 11 million users, or more than 10 percent of Iran’s population, Reuters said. 

Today, Nobitex processes an estimated 70 percent of the country’s crypto transactions. The news agency said it traced the brothers’ identities through Iranian corporate, government, and banking records, with artificial intelligence tools used to map relationships among Nobitex board members.

The exchange functions as a bridge between Iran and global crypto markets and as a central node in a parallel financial system used to move funds beyond the reach of Western sanctions, according to the report, which cited analysis by blockchain analytic firm Crystal Intelligence and interviews with four private financial investigators. Six of nine former employees and acquaintances Reuters interviewed said they were aware of state funds subject to sanctions passing through the platform.

In statements to the news outlet, Nobitex denied any government ties, said the brothers had not used an alternative identity, and stated that “Nobitex is a private and independent business” with no relationship “with the Central Bank of Iran, the IRGC, or any other governmental body.” The company said any illicit funds represented “a very small fraction of overall volume” and moved through the exchange without management’s knowledge.

The Kharrazi family is related by marriage to all three supreme leaders of the Islamic Republic and that the brothers’ father, Ayatollah Bagher Kharrazi, founded Hezbollah in Iran, a domestic political organization unaffiliated with the Lebanese militia, and wrote on his website that he helped staff the IRGC after the 1979 revolution. The brothers’ great-uncle, former foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi, was killed alongside his wife in an airstrike during this year’s U.S. and Israeli war in Iran, according to the report. 

The investigation found that Nobitex continued to operate during a government-imposed nationwide internet blackout that began February 28, processing more than $100 million during the war, about 20 percent of its usual activity, according to Crystal Intelligence figures cited by Reuters. Internet monitoring firm Netblocks told the news agency only 1 percent to 2 percent of Iranians on a “state-approved whitelist” retained access during the shutdown.

Estimates of illicit flows through Nobitex vary. Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic identified roughly $366 million in suspect transactions, including about $347 million sent by Iran’s sanctioned central bank to Nobitex in the first half of 2025. Chainalysis put the figure closer to $68 million, while Crystal Intelligence estimated $22 million in direct transfers from sanctioned wallets. All three firms told Reuters the true total is likely higher.

The news outlet said it could find no indication that any member of the Kharrazi family has been sanctioned by Western governments, and was unable to determine why Nobitex has avoided designation. The U.S. Treasury issued new sanctions on April 28 targeting Iran’s “shadow banking architecture,” but Nobitex was not included.