Vitalik Buterin Utilizes Railgun for 180 ETH Transfer

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin executed several transactions amounting to approximately 100 ETH (~$575,000) through the anonymizer Railgun. This was highlighted by journalist Colin Wu.

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

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) April 15, 2024

Railgun is an EVM privacy protocol that keeps transaction details such as token type, amount, sender, and recipient confidential.

According to the dashboard of Arkham Intelligence, Buterin has interacted with the protocol several times over the past six months. Initially, he sent small amounts, gradually increasing the sum.

The latest transaction on April 15 was for 100 ETH (~$325,000).

Under Wu’s post on X, community members speculated that the developer simply seeks privacy, given the significant attention he receives.

I would be using railgun too if I had you blasting the whole world every time I did anything with my money

— dtheo (@infosecual) April 15, 2024

“I would be using Railgun too if I had you blasting the whole world every time I did anything with my money,” wrote user dtheo.

Representatives of the anonymizer also responded to the journalist’s post. They noted that the protocol is a “fully decentralized system that anyone can use.”

It’s a fully decentralized system that anyone can use. RAILGUN is a secure evm protocol that’s already used by at least 3 wallet apps. https://t.co/TMZfhsY8OV explains more.

— RAILGUN — Private & Anonymous DeFi (@RAILGUN_Project) April 15, 2024

Over the past day, the native token of Railgun (RAIL) increased by 145% — from $0.58 to $1.34. Its market capitalization reached $79 million.

In October 2023, analysts at PeckShield recorded a transfer of 14.93 million USDC to the Gemini exchange from a wallet associated with Buterin. The Ethereum co-founder explained that most such transfers represent “some donation to a charitable, non-profit, or other project.”

Previously, the developer deposited 600 ETH, valued at about $1 million at the time, on the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase. A day before the transfer, Buterin closed a position of 251,000 RAI on the MakerDAO platform and withdrew 1,000 ETH (~$1.67 million).

Back in March, he exchanged coins received through airdrops for ETH, amounting to about $700,000, causing the price of some of them to plummet.