The Ethereum co -founder, Vitalik Butein, transferred around $ 2.6 million in tokens through the privacy -centered rail protocol on Wednesday, in what seems to be a financial transaction of routine and a quiet support of privacy based on blockchain.
It is not clear how the funds sent to Railgun, which included a mixture of ETH and USDC, were finally used. Railgun is a tool designed to obfuscate the activity in the chain, which allows investors to use decentralized finance protocols (DEFI) without transactions linked to their personal cryptography wallets.
It is not the first time that Bugerin has used the protocol. In March, he moved approximately $ 500,000 through Railgun in a similar transaction. Although Buterin has not commented directly on the last transfer, its continuous use of the tool underlines its long defense of privacy as a central pillar of Ethereum infrastructure.
Bugerin and other Ethereum developers have repeatedly argued that user privacy should be treated as a default characteristic, not as an optional complement. In an April publication for a developer forum in Ethereum, Bugerin described several recommended steps to make the block chain more private.
The impulse of the Ethereum community is produced in the middle of the continuous scrutiny of the blockchain tools that preserve privacy by regulators. While Railgun aims to enable legitimate private transactions, similar tools have caused a legal fire.
Tornado Cash, once the most used Ethereum mixer was sanctioned by the United States Foreign Assets Control Department (OFAC) in August 2022. The Government claimed that the platform was used to wash more than $ 1 billion, including funds linked to the Piracy Group of Luezarus of North Korea.
However, on March 21, 2025, ofac officially lifted the sanctions against Tornado’s cash after a ruling of the Federal Court of Appeals that the agency had exceeded its authority.
Railgun, described on its website as a “Defi privacy tool kit”, represents a new generation of Ethereum based privacy systems, combining zero knowledge cryptography with composition of intelligent contracts. This new system, unlike Tornado cash, incorporates detection characteristics to deter illegal transactions.
In particular, in February, Buterin praised Railgun for his successful prevention of a money laundering attempt.
Also unlike Tornado Cash, which is mainly built to help users transfer funds anonymously, Railgun helps users directly interact with the DEFI protocols, which allows investors to make transactions discreetly while maintaining total control of their funds.
The project has received the support of some privacy defenders and developers, who argue that tools such as Railgun can serve legal use cases such as financial privacy for activists, journalists or “whales” of high value of the network that wish to make discretion transactions.
After the last Bugerin transaction, Railgun’s native token, Rail, experienced a 15% increase in the last 24 hours.
