Israeli Extradited to US on Charges of Crypto Theft and Exposing Major Vulnerability

An Israeli citizen with Russian citizenship, Alexander Blokh, was extradited to the United States early Thursday on suspicion of exploiting a security flaw in a crypto system and stealing tokens worth approximately $3 million. Blokh's actions exposed the vulnerability to other users, leading to the withdrawal of $186 million in coins that drained the digital wallet of Nomad. Blokh will face charges in the U.S. for fraud, computer-related offenses, theft, and money laundering.

Blokh was arrested at Ben Gurion Airport in May 2025 while en route to Russia. According to the U.S. extradition request, in late July 2022, Blokh identified a weakness in the Nomad system, which is used to convert cryptocurrency between different blockchain networks by locking coins in exchange for issuing tokens. He allegedly altered the code verifying coin locks so the system would issue him digital representation without any actual deposit. On August 1, 2022, he allegedly withdrew tokens worth about $2.8 million from Nomad's wallet, subsequently converting them to various currencies and transferring them between digital wallets to obscure their origin.

U.S. investigation findings indicate that Blokh's actions exposed the security flaw to other Nomad users, enabling them to drain a Nomad-owned digital wallet containing digital currencies belonging to other users, valued at over $186 million. Days later, Blokh returned some of the stolen tokens to Nomad and contacted a Nomad executive via Telegram, offering to return the remaining tokens in exchange for payment for bringing the vulnerability to Nomad's attention. Negotiations began, but Blokh eventually broke contact, prompting Nomad to approach U.S. law enforcement.

During the legal proceedings, the Jerusalem District Court declared Blokh eligible for extradition. His appeal to the Supreme Court was rejected, establishing precedent that the term "computer intrusion" would be broadly interpreted to include exploiting security flaws and programming errors. The Supreme Court also ruled that the public nature of blockchain networks does not negate money laundering charges, as wallet owner identities remain anonymous and such transfers hinder fund tracing. Blokh's petition for an additional hearing before the Supreme Court president was also denied. The extradition case was handled by attorney Avi Kronenberg from the State Attorney's Office International Department.