Nocturne the privacy protocol supported by Vitalik Buterin ceases operations
The creators of the privacy-centered protocol Nocturne have announced their decision to shut down the project, just four months after discontinuing the protocol itself. Nocturne, a company that developed a privacy-focused protocol for Ethereum, is closing its doors less than a year after receiving $6 million in funding from Bain Capital Crypto, Polychain Capital, and Vitalik Buterin.
In a recent announcement on Jun. 5, Nocturne’s team revealed that the application’s website will remain open for withdrawals until the end of June. Once the deadline passes, the withdrawal process will transition to a self-serve format through a GitHub repository. The team did not disclose the reason behind the closure.
This decision comes after Nocturne’s choice in February to shut down the v1 version of the protocol and shift its focus towards a new product within the application space. The team explained that the early stage of the layer-2 ecosystem was a contributing factor to the protocol’s closure, stating that the move to public layer-2 networks must come before privacy.
Nocturne had set out to enable private accounts on the Ethereum network, allowing users to send and receive cryptocurrency in a confidential manner. Back in October 2023, Nocturne secured $6 million in a seed round led by Bain Capital Crypto and Polychain Capital, with support from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and other members of the Ethereum community. The team had planned to utilize the funding for the deployment and development of private accounts on Ethereum.
