Ethereum-Based Privacy Protocol Explodes 168% After Vitalik Buterin Voices Support, Says ‘Privacy Should be Normal’

Ethereum (ETH) founder Vitalik Buterin says that on-chain privacy should be accepted as normal following his transaction with the Railgun protocol.

First reported by crypto reporter Colin Wu, Arkham Intelligence data shows that Buterin recently transferred 100 ETH using the privacy protocol.

“Vitalik Buterin (vitalik.eth) transferred 100 ETH (approximately $325,000) to Railgun at 17:40 UTC+8 today. Railgun is an EVM privacy protocol that enables DeFi private transactions. Over the past six months, Vitalik Buterin has been interacting with the Railgun using small amounts of ETH basically every month.”

Responding directly to Wu’s post, Buterin said,

“Privacy is normal.

Railgun uses the privacy pools protocol (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4563364) which makes it much harder for bad actors to join the pool without compromising users’ privacy.”

After Buterin voiced his support, RAIL, the protocol’s utility token, skyrocketed in price from $0.58 to $1.56, a 168% gain.

Railgun was highlighted by the FBI last year as a tool for North Korean hackers, such as the Lazarus Group.

“On Friday, January 13, 2023, North Korean cyber actors used RAILGUN, a privacy protocol, to launder over $60 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) stolen during the June 2022 heist. A portion of this stolen Ethereum was subsequently sent to several virtual asset service providers and converted to Bitcoin (BTC).”

The privacy protocol has become a key alternative to Tornado Cash after the US Treasury sanctioned the latter, which the North Korean Lazarus Group had allegedly previously used for money laundering.

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