Vitalik Buterin 的轉捩點：從以太坊聯合創始人到隱私倡導者

就在幾天前，Vitalik 將 400 以太幣（ETH）——大約一百萬美元——轉移到了 Railgun 協議上。這已經不是第一次了

Almost his entire fortune is on-chain for everyone to see, and his transactions often reflect what he is passionate about.

他的全部財富幾乎都在鏈上，所有人都能看到，他的交易往往反映了他所熱衷的事情。

It must be quite uncomfortable to be Vitalik Buterin, the famous co-founder of Ethereum, who is both a driving force and the mascot of the second-largest cryptocurrency. Buterin is incredibly wealthy and famous – but the entire world can look into his wallet.

身為以太坊著名聯合創始人維塔利克·布特林（Vitalik Buterin）一定會感到非常不舒服，他既是第二大加密貨幣的推動力，也是吉祥物。 Buterin 非常富有且出名——但全世界都可以查看他的錢包。

Spot onchain displays eight of Buterin’s wallets, which together contain a total of $746 million, the vast majority of which is in Ether ($729 million), followed by USDC ($16 million). Surely, he has other wallets, but it is equally certain that these public wallets hold a large portion of his wealth, if not the largest. Every move he makes is closely watched by speculators hoping for a quick profit and journalists looking for gossip.

Spot onchain 顯示了 Buterin 的 8 個錢包，總共包含 7.46 億美元，其中絕大多數是以太幣（7.29 億美元），其次是 USDC（1600 萬美元）。當然，他還有其他錢包，但同樣可以肯定的是，這些公共錢包持有他財富的很大一部分，即使不是最大的。他的一舉一動都受到希望快速獲利的投機者和尋找八卦的記者的密切關注。

We can see what Buterin does with his wealth – and we can track on-chain what he is engaged in. Rarely do transactions and idealism go hand in hand like this; Buterin’s wallet is not just a financial account – it is a book, a manifesto.

我們可以看到 Buterin 用他的財富做了什麼——我們可以在鏈上追蹤他從事的事情。 Buterin 的錢包不僅僅是一個金融帳戶——它是一本書，一份宣言。

Buterin’s Turning Point

Buterin 的轉捩點

Just a few days ago, Buterin transferred 400 Ether (ETH) – approximately one million dollars – to the Railgun protocol. This is not the first time, as he sent a similar amount to Railgun nearly a year ago.

就在幾天前，Buterin 將 400 以太幣（ETH）——大約一百萬美元——轉移到了 Railgun 協議上。這並不是第一次，大約一年前他就向 Railgun 發送了類似數量的資金。

Screenshot from Spot onchain.

螢幕截圖來自 Spot onchain。

Railgun is a privacy protocol on Ethereum, a smart contract that helps users anonymize their tokens, similar to the now-sanctioned mixer Tornado Cash. Users burn tokens and mint new ones, proving through a Zero-Knowledge Proof that they have burned tokens without revealing which ones. There are differences from Tornado Cash, but the basic concept is the same, and the details are not the focus here.

Railgun 是以太坊上的隱私協議，這是一種幫助用戶匿名化其代幣的智慧合約，類似於現已批准的混合器 Tornado Cash。用戶銷毀代幣並鑄造新代幣，透過零知識證明證明他們已經銷毀了代幣，而無需透露哪些代幣。和Tornado Cash有差別，但基本概念是一樣的，細節不是這裡的重點。

Buterin has long advocated for more privacy on a blockchain. He of all people knows what it means to have a transparent wallet and the whole world watching where he sends his funds.

Buterin 長期以來一直主張在區塊鏈上提供更多隱私。他比所有人都知道擁有透明錢包意味著什麼，全世界都在關注他將資金發送到哪裡。

In a long, autobiographical blog post, he talks about the „end of my childhood.“ February 23, 2022, was a key date. „I still remember being filled with dread as I watched the TV in my hotel room in Denver at 7:20 AM local time.“ Russia crossed the border with tanks and sent bombers to Kyiv. The start of state-organized Russian mass murder on foreign soil marked a turning point not only for Chancellor Scholz but also for Buterin.

在一篇長篇自傳部落格文章中，他談到了「我童年的結束」。 「我仍然記得當地時間早上 7 點 20 分，當我在丹佛的酒店房間裡看電視時，心裡充滿了恐懼。」俄羅斯駕駛坦克越過邊境，並向基輔派遣轟炸機。俄羅斯在外國土地上進行國家組織的大規模屠殺不僅對德國總理舒爾茨來說是一個轉捩點，對布特林來說也是如此。

The next morning, he learned that the Ukrainian government was seeking crypto donations on Twitter. He first thought it must be a scam, possibly by the Russians, but quickly found out it was real and posted it on Twitter. What happened next would change everything: „An hour later, a relative sent me a message that for my own safety, I should no longer travel to Russia.“

第二天早上，他得知烏克蘭政府正在 Twitter 上尋求加密貨幣捐贈。他首先認為這肯定是一個騙局，可能是俄羅斯人所為，但很快就發現這是真的，並將其發佈在推特上。接下來發生的事情將改變一切：“一個小時後，一位親戚給我發了一條消息，為了我自己的安全，我不應該再前往俄羅斯。”

Buterin experienced firsthand how uncomfortable financial transparency can be. He began using anonymization protocols to donate anonymously, first Tornado Cash, then Railgun. Privacy is, he emphasizes, „normal,“ meaning it should be the standard, not the exception. He started focusing more on technologies that make Ethereum more private, such as Stealth Addresses, and brought prominence to them through the weight of his name.

Buterin 親身經歷了財務透明度是多麼令人不安。他開始使用匿名協議進行匿名捐贈，首先是“龍捲風現金”，然後是“軌道槍”。他強調，隱私是“正常的”，這意味著它應該成為標準，而不是例外。他開始更專注於使以太坊更加私密的技術，例如隱形地址，並透過他的名字的影響力使這些技術變得突出。

A Second Vision for Crypto

加密貨幣的第二個願景

But the turning point for the Ethereum co-founder doesn’t stop there. He also realized that his previously neutral, morally detached actions, which were solely focused on crypto, had a cost.

但這位以太坊聯合創始人的轉捩點不止於此。他也意識到，他之前只關注加密貨幣的中立、道德超然的行為是有代價的。

„Most of my decisions in Ethereum involved responding to the pressure and wishes of other people. When I met Vladimir Putin in 2017, I did not contribute to arranging the meeting; someone else suggested it and I said ‚ok‘.“ Ok because it was good for Ethereum, even if one is critical of Putin; ok because Ethereum was more likely to change Putin than the other way around. Now, five years later, „I finally realized that (i) I had made myself an accomplice in legitimizing a genocidal dictatorship, and (ii) I no longer had the luxury of leaning back in the crypto space and letting mystical ‚other people‘ run the show.“

「我在以太坊的大部分決定都涉及回應其他人的壓力和願望。 2017年我會見弗拉基米爾·普丁時，我沒有參與安排會面； “好的，因為這對以太坊有利，即使有人批評普丁；”好吧，因為以太幣更有可能改變普京，而不是相反。現在，五年後，「我終於意識到（i）我已經讓自己成為了種族滅絕獨裁政權合法化的幫兇，並且（ii）我不再有奢侈地依靠加密貨幣空間並讓神秘的「其他人”主持節目。”

Instead of being a mascot of his own creation, Buterin seeks and formulates „a second vision for how the crypto space can evolve to better meet the needs and demands of the 21st century.“ He no longer wants to be driven around by others in the success of his creation but rather to shape it himself; no compromises with what helps success in the market, but back to the roots, to the ideals.

Buterin 不再是自己創造的吉祥物，而是尋求並製定「加密貨幣空間如何發展以更好地滿足21 世紀的需求和要求的第二個願景。」他不再希望在這個世界上被其他人左右。不向有助於市場成功的因素妥協，而是回歸根源、回歸理想。

Blockchains are supposed to protect people’s freedom. They should grant autonomy and privacy, resolve the unholy dichotomy of „anonymous and not trustworthy“ or „fully verified,“ create financial independence, and so forth. Blockchains should live up to these ideals; they should promote the utopia of a better world instead of risking the descent into a dystopia.

區塊鏈應該保護人們的自由。他們應該授予自主權和隱私，解決「匿名且不值得信賴」或「完全驗證」的邪惡二分法，創造財務獨立等等。區塊鏈應該實現這些理想；他們應該促進一個更美好世界的烏托邦，而不是冒著陷入反烏托邦的風險。

Defensive Acceleration

防禦加速