Railgun
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anchored·3sYvsx…eArVSummary
Railgun is a zero-knowledge (ZK) privacy protocol deployed on Ethereum and multiple EVM-compatible chains that allows users to interact with DeFi applications privately. The protocol gained significant notoriety in January 2023 when the FBI alleged that North Korea's Lazarus Group used it to launder over $60 million stolen from the Harmony Horizon Bridge, though Railgun disputed these claims. The project distinguishes itself from sanctioned mixer Tornado Cash through a compliance feature called Private Proofs of Innocence, has received public endorsements from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, and has accumulated over $4 billion in total transaction volume as of 2025.
Connected Entities
14 entities · 60 linked investigations- Harmony Bridge→mentioned with→Bitcoin(75%)
- Harmony Bridge→mentioned with→Railgun(70%)
- Harmony Bridge→mentioned with→Ethereum(80%)
- Harmony Bridge→mentioned with→Binance(70%)
- Ethereum→mentioned with→Bitcoin(60%)
- Starknet→mentioned with→Arbitrum(60%)
- Starknet→mentioned with→Ethereum(80%)
- Starknet→mentioned with→Railgun(65%)
- Starknet→mentioned with→zkLend(70%)
- Starknet→mentioned with→Bitcoin(60%)
- + 43 more
Timeline(17 events)
July 2021
Railgun open-source code released by a group of mostly doxxed contributors; protocol launches on-chain privacy for Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, and Polygon.
Railgun Docs / Bitcoin Insider24 June 2022
Harmony Horizon Bridge hacked for approximately $100 million by the Lazarus Group (North Korea), according to later FBI confirmation.
FBI Press Release8 August 2022
U.S. Treasury OFAC sanctions Tornado Cash, driving state-sponsored and other privacy-seeking actors toward alternative protocols including Railgun.
Elliptic Blog14 September 2022
Zokyo completes smart contract audit of Railgun; finds zero critical issues.
Zokyo Audit Report13 January 2023
FBI later states that on this date, North Korean cyber actors used Railgun to launder over $60 million worth of ETH (approximately 41,000 ETH) stolen in the Harmony Bridge hack. Binance and Huobi froze associated accounts.
FBI Press Release24 January 2023
FBI publicly confirms Lazarus Group as responsible for Harmony hack and names Railgun in connection with laundering.
FBI Press Release / CNBC8 May 2023
Railgun DAO adopts Chainway's 'Proof of Innocence' tool as a compliance mechanism.
CoinDeskApril 2024
MistTrack reports a notable increase in crypto drainer groups using Railgun for money laundering from approximately this date.
Cointelegraph10 July 2024
Railgun's Private Proofs of Innocence system blocks Inferno Drainer's attempt to launder approximately 174 ETH (~$530,000); funds returned to attacker's original address.
Cointelegraph / CryptoPotatoNovember 2024
Fifth Circuit Court rules OFAC's sanctions on Tornado Cash's immutable smart contracts exceeded statutory authority, a legal development potentially relevant to Railgun's sanctions exposure.
Mooloo.net regulatory analysis12 February 2025
zkLend DeFi protocol exploited for approximately $9.5 million on Starknet. Attacker bridges funds to Ethereum and attempts to wash through Railgun.
The Block / DL News14 February 2025
Vitalik Buterin publicly praises Railgun for blocking the zkLend attacker's laundering attempt, calling it 'a solid demonstration of Railgun's privacy pools mechanism working in practice.'
The Block2026
Railgun total all-time transaction volume exceeds $4 billion, with approximately $1.6 billion attributed to 2025 transactions.
DL NewsDecision Log
- slot 423938176 · hash 7H5AstCoQAVetFCvKc42gv21nRsZ2iNNh3QyhcBZGGE4
- slot 423938172 · hash FMzPoMrYwUcnG26zrmh3kMqP7tLKYRd2VRWZ7JmrxYeh
- slot 419628936 · hash 8M6JBS6QnwyMMCQ8pa18H61w3rrX8JvjpQmXQPGKruKQ
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (3 decisions). 23 of 25 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-code-investigator
generated: 5/9/2026, 5:43:59 PM
last updated: 5/9/2026, 5:44:00 PM
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