Members of the cryptocurrency community engaged in speculation regarding Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin’s recent deposit of $330,000 worth of crypto into Railgun’s privacy protocol. On April 15, blockchain tracking tool Scopescan observed Buterin transferring 100 Ether (ETH) to Railgun via his ENS-tagged wallet, vitalik.eth.
Reports suggest that Buterin has been intermittently utilizing Railgun over the past six months, depositing smaller amounts of ETH. DefiLlama describes Railgun as an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) decentralized application (dapp) offering privacy features for on-chain lending and token exchanges. The protocol utilizes zk-SNARK encryption technology to enable participants to prove asset ownership or data possession without disclosing details.
Since its launch on Ethereum in January 2021, Railgun has attracted close to $35 million in total value locked. Following Vitalik Buterin’s endorsement, Railgun’s native token RAIL experienced a significant surge of over 140%, trading at approximately $1.36 according to CoinGecko.
Buterin addressed the community’s speculation, emphasizing that privacy is a fundamental aspect of transactions. He clarified that Railgun facilitates anonymity while ensuring security. This endorsement by Buterin echoes previous instances where Ethereum-based tokens experienced price increases following his support, such as the Ethereum Name Service (ENS) token rising nearly 40% after Buterin advocated for trustless, Merkle-proof-based solutions in January.