Vitalik Buterin transfers $300,000 to privacy protocol Railgun (again)

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin has continued his usage of the privacy protocol Railgun — transacting 80 ETH (nearly $300,000) on it today.

Buterin has been engaging with the service for several months, typically with smaller amounts, on-chain data aggregated on Arkham Intelligence data shows.

Buterin had previously transferred 100 ETH in April ($300,000 at the time) via Railgun and supported its use. “Railgun uses the privacy pools protocol, which makes it much harder for bad actors to join the pool without compromising users’ privacy,” he stated then.

Railgun is a privacy protocol that makes use of ZK SNARKs, a zero-knowledge proof technology. This lets users conceal their wallet addresses during transactions on open-ledger blockchains. It is often wrongly labeled as a mixing service like the sanctioned Tornado Cash even though it's a privacy platform.

Buterin had also posted on X the phrase “Privacy Is Normal” along with the Railgun transaction details, adding that it prevents bad actors from joining the common pool — unlike Tornado.

Still, Railgun has not been immune to misuse. For example, $63.5 million in ether stolen from the Horizon bridge by suspected North Korean hackers in January 2023 had moved to Railgun, ZachXBT reported. In April, Railgun refuted claims that it was used by North Korean hackers after reports emerged that it may have been used by the hacking group Lazarus.