Buterin-backed privacy protocol Nocturne has announced its closure

What’s new? Nocturne, a privacy-enhancing protocol development company co-founded by Ethereum blockchain co-founder Vitalik Buterin, has announced its closure. The protocol, launched late last year, was already shut down some time ago, and now the company itself is shutting down as well.

Source: x.com

What else is known? Nocturne did not give a reason for the decision to wind down operations. As for the protocol interface, it will be available by the end of this month. In July, after the interface is shut down, the withdrawal process will also be available, but already in “self-serve” mode.

For users who do not have programming skills, this process can be difficult. The company has submitted a repository on GitHub containing detailed instructions on withdrawing funds using its CLI tool.

“We appreciate everyone who supported the product and mission over the past year and a half. Thank you for the support, feedback, and energy. We wish everyone well in the future,” Nocturne concluded.

The Nocturne protocol was launched on the Ethereum mainnet in November 2023. The protocol was an additional account rather than a separate tool. What made Nocturne different from other similar projects was that it directly integrated privacy at the account level, allowing it to function as a smart contract wallet.

The protocol focused on convenience and interoperability and also used zero-knowledge proof (ZK) technology.

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Between January and August last year, US-based startup Nocturne raised $6 million led by Bain Capital Crypto and Polychain Capital, with participation from Buterin, Bankless Ventures, Hack VC, Robot Ventures, and others.

By Q1 2025, Ethereum developers will host a Pectra hardfork on the mainnet, along with which 11 network improvement proposals (EIPs) will be implemented. One of them will be EIP-7702, proposed by Buterin and replacing EIP-3074.

EIP-7702 aims to improve the abstraction of accounts in the underlying network. This concept allows blockchain accounts to be programmed so that wallets can operate as smart contracts and perform a number of complex functions, including multi-factor authentication.