I. Executive Summary On June 18, 2025, Nobitex, Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, became the target of a significant cyberattack claimed by “Gonjeshke Darande,” also known as “Predatory Sparrow,” a hacking group widely associated with Israel. The incident resulted in a reported loss exceeding $48 million in Tether (USDT) from Nobitex’s hot wallets. Following the breach, Gonjeshke Darande issued a public warning, threatening to release Nobitex’s source code and internal network information within 24 hours, cautioning that any remaining assets on the platform would be at risk.

1. Executive Summary Chihuahua Stealer, a.NET-based information-stealing malware, emerged in April 2025, posing a significant threat through its targeted attacks on browser credentials and cryptocurrency wallet data. This malware, also identified under the alias “Pupkin Stealer” 2, exhibits characteristics that suggest links to a Russian-speaking developer known as “Ardent”. A peculiar trait is the embedding of transliterated Russian rap lyrics within its code, which are displayed on the console during execution, serving as a potential cultural signature of its author.

Pectra’s EIP-7702: Redefining Trust Assumptions in Ethereum’s Ecosystem Ethereum’s upcoming Pectra upgrade introduces EIP-7702, a groundbreaking proposal that fundamentally transforms how we understand Externally Owned Accounts (EOAs) and their capabilities. This upgrade represents the most significant change to Ethereum’s account architecture since the Merge, enabling standard EOAs to temporarily behave like smart contract wallets without compromising self-custody or security. The innovation effectively “redefines trust” by challenging longstanding assumptions about account behavior while introducing powerful new capabilities that bridge the gap between traditional EOAs and smart contract wallets.

ZKsync Security Breach: Analysis of the $5 Million Token Theft On April 15, 2025, ZKsync, a prominent Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution, suffered a significant security breach when hackers compromised an administrative wallet and minted unauthorized tokens worth approximately $5 million. The incident specifically targeted unclaimed airdrop tokens, resulting in market volatility and raising questions about security practices within the protocol. This report examines the breach details, ZKsync’s response, market impact, and broader security implications for the cryptocurrency ecosystem.

KiloEx DEX $7.5 Million Security Breach: Analysis and Mitigation Strategies for Similar Platforms The recent KiloEx decentralized exchange (DEX) exploit represents a significant security incident in the decentralized finance ecosystem, highlighting the ongoing vulnerabilities that plague even backed and established platforms. This security breach, which resulted in the theft of $7.5 million through price oracle manipulation, offers critical lessons for similar companies operating in the DeFi space. The KiloEx Security Breach: Timeline and Technical Details On April 14, 2025, KiloEx, a decentralized perpetuals trading platform, fell victim to a sophisticated cross-chain attack that targeted multiple blockchain networks simultaneously.

The Bybit Exchange Hack of February 2025: A Comprehensive Analysis In February 2025, cryptocurrency exchange Bybit suffered what has become the largest digital heist in cryptocurrency history, with losses totaling approximately $1.5 billion. This sophisticated attack, attributed to North Korean state actors, exposed critical vulnerabilities in multi-signature wallet systems and highlighted the evolving nature of threats in the cryptocurrency space. The incident involved a complex chain of events including the compromise of a developer’s machine, manipulation of transaction interfaces, and rapid laundering of stolen funds.

Zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) represent one of the most fascinating and powerful concepts in modern cryptography. Building upon your existing knowledge of hash functions and Merkle trees, this report delves into the intricate world of ZKPs, exploring how they enable one party to prove knowledge of a specific piece of information without revealing what that information actually is. This cryptographic breakthrough allows for verification without disclosure, creating new possibilities for privacy-preserving systems in our increasingly digital world.

Blockchain technology has evolved from a simple distributed ledger to a sophisticated multi-layered ecosystem. This layered approach has become essential to address the limitations of early blockchain implementations while maintaining their core benefits of security, decentralization, and transparency. The current date is Friday, March 14, 2025, and blockchain technology continues to mature with increasingly specialized layers working in harmony to support diverse applications across industries. This comprehensive exploration explains how blockchain layers function, their specific responsibilities, and examines the most significant blockchain networks operating across these layers.

Blockchain technology represents one of the most significant innovations in digital infrastructure over the past decade, combining advances in cryptography, distributed systems, and consensus mechanisms to create secure, transparent, and tamper-resistant networks. This technology has evolved from its original implementation in Bitcoin to support complex applications across various industries, from finance to supply chain management. The foundational elements of blockchain work in concert to enable trustless interactions in environments where participants may not inherently trust one another.

The 2016 Bitfinex hack represents one of the most significant security breaches in cryptocurrency history, resulting in the theft of approximately 120,000 bitcoins valued at roughly $72 million at the time. This incident has become a landmark case study in cryptocurrency security, digital forensics, and the legal pursuit of cybercriminals. The hack’s aftermath spanned years, culminating in arrests, guilty pleas, and the largest cryptocurrency seizure in history. What follows is a detailed analysis of this watershed event in cryptocurrency security history, examining its timeline, technical aspects, attribution, and long-term implications.