Vitalik Buterin-backed developer of privacy protocol Nocturne shuts down

The company behind the privacy-focused protocol Nocturne has announced its closure just four months after discontinuing the protocol itself.

Nocturne, which developed a privacy-oriented protocol for Ethereum, is shutting down less than a year after securing $6 million in funding from Bain Capital Crypto, Polychain Capital, and Vitalik Buterin.

In an X announcement on Jun. 5, Nocturne’s team stated that the application’s website will remain open for withdrawals until the end of June. After the deadline, the withdrawal process will be converted to a self-serve format via a GitHub repository. The team didn’t provide a reason for the shutdown.

“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

The closure follows Nocturne’s decision in February to shut down the v1 version of the protocol and shift focus to “a new product in the application space.” The team cited the nascent state of the layer-2 ecosystem as a reason for the protocol’s closure, emphasizing that the transition to public layer-2 networks “must happen before privacy.”

“Users worry about cost/UX first. Moreover, the timing for privacy depends on crypto’s utility. Until these primary barriers are overcome first, privacy concerns remain secondary.”

Nocturne

Nocturne aimed to enable private accounts on the Ethereum network, allowing users to send and receive cryptocurrency privately.

In October 2023, Nocturne raised $6 million in a seed round co-led by Bain Capital Crypto and Polychain Capital, with participation from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin and other Ethereum community members. At the time, the team intended to use the funds for deploying and developing private accounts on Ethereum.