Disappointing Decision from the Cryptocurrency Startup In Which Vitalik Buterin Invested

The cryptocurrency startup, in which Vitalik Buterin, the founder of Ethereum, invested, made a decision that upset users.

According to the statement made by the Nocturne team this week, it was decided to completely close the company.

He received investment from Buterin

Nocturne Labs, founded in the USA, was working to enable users in the Ethereum ecosystem to transact anonymously. For this, users could deposit and withdraw money to their Nocturne accounts.

Nocturne Labs received $6 million in seed investment from Bain Capital Crypto, Polychain Capital, Vitalik Buterin and several others in October 2023.

“After shutting down the privacy protocol we established at the beginning of this year, we decided to shut down the company,” said the Nocturne team.

The interface of the Nocturne protocol will remain open until the end of this month for users to withdraw funds. Users will then be able to withdraw funds on their own via a Github repo.

Regulatory pressure

Many governments are taking a tough stance against privacy-focused cryptocurrency platforms. OFAC, affiliated with the US Department of Treasury, had placed Tornado Cash, one of the largest mixers, on its sanctions list.

Luke Tchang, CEO of Nocturne Labs, said that they will "approach the legal compliance issue carefully." No details were given about why the Nocturne protocol was shut down.