Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin has made several transactions totaling about 100 ETH (~$575,000) through the Railgun anonymizer. Journalist Colin Wu brought this to attention.

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 Railgun using small…

— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) April 15, 2024

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

According to the Arkham Intelligence dashboard, Buterin has interacted with the protocol multiple times over the past six months. Initially, he sent insignificant amounts, but over time, he increased the sum.

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

Under Wu’s post, some community members speculated that the developer simply wants privacy, considering the high level of attention to his person.

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 a user under the name dtheo.

Railgun representatives 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

In the past day, the native Railgun token (RAIL) has seen a 145% growth – from $0.58 to $1.34. Its market cap 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 of such transfers represent “some kind of donation to a charitable, non-profit, or other project.”

Earlier, the developer deposited 600 ETH worth around $1 million at the time on the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange. A day before the transfer, Buterin closed a position in 251,000 RAI on the MakerDAO platform and withdrew 1000 ETH (~$1.67 million).

Recall that in March, he exchanged coins received through airdrops for ETH worth around $700,000, causing a drop in the value of some of them.

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