RAI Token increased by 25% after Vitalik Buterin continued to use the Railgun private protocol.

Vitalik Buterin transferred approximately 2.6 million USD worth of tokens through the privacy-focused protocol Railgun on Wednesday, both as a routine financial transaction and as a quiet endorsement of privacy on the blockchain.

It is currently unclear how the funds deposited into Railgun — including a mix of ETH and USDC — are utilized thereafter. Railgun is a tool designed to obfuscate on-chain activity, allowing investors to utilize decentralized financial protocols (DeFi) without revealing transactions directly linked to their personal cryptocurrency wallets.

This is not the first time Buterin has used this protocol. In March, he transferred about $500,000 through Railgun in a similar transaction. Although Buterin has not commented directly on the latest transfer, his continued use of the tool shows his long-standing support for privacy as an important pillar of Ethereum's infrastructure.

Buterin and other Ethereum developers have repeatedly emphasized that user privacy should be considered a fundamental feature by default, not an optional extra. In an April post on the Ethereum developer forum, he proposed several necessary steps to enhance privacy for the blockchain.

Efforts to protect privacy within the Ethereum community are taking place against the backdrop of privacy protection tools on the blockchain being closely monitored by authorities. Although Railgun aims to support legal private transactions, similar tools have faced significant legal troubles.

Tornado Cash — once the most popular token shredder on Ethereum — was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of (OFAC) Foreign Assets Control in August 2022 for allegedly facilitating the laundering of more than $1 billion, including amounts linked to the North Korean hacker group Lazarus.

However, on March 21, 2025, OFAC officially lifted the sanctions against Tornado Cash following a federal appeals court ruling that the agency had exceeded its authority.

Railgun, described on the website as "a privacy toolkit for DeFi," represents a new generation of privacy protection systems built on Ethereum, combining zero-knowledge cryptography and the interactivity of smart contracts. Unlike Tornado Cash, this system has filtering features to prevent illegal transactions.

Notably, in February, Buterin once praised Railgun for successfully preventing a money laundering attempt.

Unlike Tornado Cash, which primarily helps users transfer money anonymously, Railgun also allows users to interact directly with DeFi protocols — enabling investors to trade discreetly while still maintaining full control over their funds.

The project has received support from several activists and privacy developers, who argue that tools like Railgun can serve legitimate purposes such as protecting the financial privacy of activists, journalists, or high-value cryptocurrency "whales" who wish to trade discreetly.

RAIL price chart for the last 24 hours | Source: CoingeckoAfter Buterin's latest transaction, the native token of Railgun, RAIL, has increased in price by 25% in the last 24 hours.

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