Railgun denies being used by North Korea as it nears $1B total volume

Crypto privacy protocol Railgun has denied being used by North Korea and other United States-sanctioned entities to launder cryptocurrency, arguing its zero knowledge-based tech prevents this and the accusations have “no evidence.”

It comes as the Railgun platform’s total volume nears the $1 billion mark, boosted by a recent X post from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin praising and defending the privacy protocol.

Railgun, founded in January 2021, uses zero-knowledge (ZK) cryptography to shield wallet balances, transaction history and transaction details allowing users to use decentralized apps (DApps) on Ethereum or other supported chains while remaining private.

Blockchain security firm Elliptic once labeled Railgun a “prime alternative to Tornado Cash” after the U.S. government imposed sanctions against the crypto mixer.

In January 2023, the FBI stated that North Korean cyber attackers used Railgun to launder more than $60 million worth of Ether (ETH $3,090) from the 2022 Harmony Bridge heist.

In an X post responding to crypto reporter Colin Wu, Railgun denied that Lazarus had used the privacy protocol, calling it “false reporting.”

Source: Railgun

“Firstly, that group is blocked from using the RAILGUN system by the “Private Proofs of Innocence” system, which went live over a year ago,” Railgun wrote on X. 

“Secondly, it was a mistaken, false allegation in the first place,” it added.

Private Proofs of Innocence — also known as Private POI — was launched by Railgun’s researchers and contributors in January 2023.

It uses cryptographic assurance to ensure that funds entering the Railgun smart contract are not from a known list of undesirable transactions or actors by requiring users to create a ZK-proof that their funds are not part of a pre-set list of transactions and wallets.

Buterin has also since defended Railgun arguing that “privacy is normal” and that the privacy pools protocol makes it “much harder for bad actors to join the pool.”

Source: Vitalik Buterin

Railgun hit $962.8 million in total volume, while its total value locked on Ethereum — where most of the protocol’s activity is — also crossed over $25 million, according to Dune Analytics data. 

Its token Railgun (RAIL) also rallied on April 15 after it was reported that Buterin had sent 100 ETH worth $325,000 to Railgun earlier that day.

The token is now trading at $1.18 and is up 86.3% over the past seven days.