Ian Talley

Investigative journalist exploring the shadow world of finance at risk-intelligence platform @KharonData

[Ian Talley @IanTalley]

"Countries hired mercenaries in the 18th century...In the 21st century, they buy space services from global companies.” -Clayton Swope, deputy director of the CSIS Aerospace Security Project

My @KharonData colleagues @ccjanetang & Yu-Jie Liao detail how China's commercial rocket economy is arming Iran and Russia: https://t.co/WmFI4rUed1

[Ian Talley @IanTalley]

"A Kharon investigation found a cluster of companies...whose links to Hizballah signal a risk they could help the group retain access to critical technology and Western financial systems."

https://t.co/FZoC4TkHIB

[Ian Talley @IanTalley]

Boom or Bust?
Europeans keep investing in a Russian drone project--But is it a military prototype or a pyramid scheme? 
My @KharonData colleagues @RyanBacic & @kiyan_olga find out:
https://t.co/ql38D8wmaT

[Ian Talley @IanTalley]

Blood Money Media archived here:
https://t.co/OHC35tYzQc

[Ian Talley @IanTalley]

Archiving Blood Money Media today as I move to a new venture.

Grateful to everyone who read, shared, supported, and contributed.

Continuing this work under a new banner—more soon.

Archive remains available.

[Alan Rappeport @arappeport]

Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent tapped Gene Lange, a Treasury counselor who worked with him at Key Square, to be administrator of the department’s Office of Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, following the departure of John Hurley, the TFI under secretary.

https://t.co/ivLz9xmpOb

[Javier Blas @JavierBlas]

BREAKING: US Treasury eases oil sanctions on the Kremlin, allowing Indian refineries to buy the millions of barrels of Russian crude on floating storage until early April (the new rules cover all the oil already loaded in a tanker by March 5, 2026). Massive win for Putin.

[Ian Talley @IanTalley]

Want a clear-eyed status check on the war with Iran? Worth the five minute read.

[Hudson Institute @HudsonInstitute]

https://t.co/NZeG9CLLHb

[JMDavis @JessMarinDavis]

@IanTalley How am I just realizing you have a Substack now? Looks great, and I can't wait to dig in! Already subscribed :)

[Ian Talley @IanTalley]

https://t.co/OtzK8oxO48

[Ian Talley @IanTalley]

Iran's terror-proxy use of #crypto was just "crowdfunding," they said.

But facts. #IncovenientTruth

Tehran embedded crypto into the exchange networks that power its shadow financial system.

https://t.co/x5flylgz9m

[Ian Talley @IanTalley]

https://t.co/uHN9dSUbN0

https://t.co/cuM3Dg3Ukx

[Ian Talley @IanTalley]

Notable in the US Treasury's sanctions today is the targeting of a Lebanon currency exchange.
https://t.co/RvV5iMwhfM

[Mark Krutov @kromark]

🕵️Call us the 'Headquarters Hunters': together with @pustota, we found the 'mail center' of the GRU 'Africa Corps.' You will – and will not – be surprised where we found it. Full thread below 🔽

[IISS News @IISS_org]

Cryptocurrency’s capacity for reuse and conversion facilitates large-scale cross-border operations by transnational criminal, terrorist and state-linked actors. Illicit proceeds are generated through activities such as crypto theft, extortion, laundering, sanctions evasion, scams, fraud and terror financing. These funds converge on a small number of recurring conversion nodes, where they are converted into assets that are more difficult to trace and seize.

Explore the latest #ChartingCyberspace analysis by @JuliaVoo and Dara Eoy: https://t.co/AtiHmbsFRn

[Tom Wright @TomWrightAsia]

That investor is Benjamin Mauerberger. He fled Bangkok for Dubai last year as investigations mounted, yet he still managed to legitimize himself as a major UAE property player. The reality? He’s accused of laundering billions for the brutal "pig-butchering" scam compounds of Southeast Asia, syndicates that target and ruin thousands of American families. 2/4

[Shortwave Observer @shortwave78]

👀⚠️
The mysterious Farsi-language Numbers-Station on 7910kHz, received in 🇮🇹Milan at 18:00 UTC on March 3, 2026.
Probably the most interesting radio signal in recent times.

[Ian Talley @IanTalley]

https://t.co/x5flylgz9m

@elliptic @chainalysis @crypto_council @RibbitCapital

[Ian Talley @IanTalley]

Remember when the crypto industry scrambled to say Iran wasn't using blockchain to fund Hamas & other proxies?

"It's pocket-change fundraising"

Nope.

Evidence shows Iran & proxies wove crypto into the core financial architecture bankrolling their arms & terror operations.

[Ian Talley @IanTalley]

Breaking the Crowdfunding Myth: The Digital Architecture Funding Iran’s Proxy Wars

Nope, not simply donations.

Iran & its proxies are operating exchange networks & blockchain pipelines as financial architecture for the regime’s Resistance Economy.

https://t.co/UJOKSjB4O4

[Ian Talley @IanTalley]

They were criminally prosecuted for working w/ UAE's "Spy Sheikh"

But after the Sheikh's $500M crypto venture, Trump bucked years of natsec red-flags & handed him tech that could beget the intel community's worst fear: China winning the AI arms race.

https://t.co/TIxoqPhbQt