Vitalik Buterin 的转折点：从以太坊联合创始人到隐私倡导者

就在几天前，Vitalik 将 400 以太币（ETH）——大约一百万美元——转移到了 Railgun 协议上。这已经不是第一次了

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

他的全部财富几乎都在链上，所有人都能看到，他的交易往往反映了他所热衷的事情。

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.

作为以太坊著名联合创始人维塔利克·布特林（Vitalik Buterin）一定会感到非常不舒服，他既是第二大加密货币的推动力，又是吉祥物。 Buterin 非常富有且出名——但全世界都可以查看他的钱包。

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 显示了 Buterin 的 8 个钱包，总共包含 7.46 亿美元，其中绝大多数是以太币（7.29 亿美元），其次是 USDC（1600 万美元）。当然，他还有其他钱包，但同样可以肯定的是，这些公共钱包持有他财富的很大一部分，即使不是最大的。他的一举一动都受到希望快速获利的投机者和寻找八卦的记者的密切关注。

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.

我们可以看到 Buterin 用他的财富做了什么——我们可以在链上追踪他从事的事情。交易和理想主义很少像这样齐头并进； Buterin 的钱包不仅仅是一个金融账户——它是一本书，一份宣言。

Buterin’s Turning Point

Buterin 的转折点

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.

就在几天前，Buterin 将 400 以太币（ETH）——大约一百万美元——转移到了 Railgun 协议上。这并不是第一次，大约一年前他就向 Railgun 发送了类似数量的资金。

Screenshot from Spot onchain.

屏幕截图来自 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 是以太坊上的隐私协议，这是一种帮助用户匿名化其代币的智能合约，类似于现已批准的混合器 Tornado Cash。用户销毁代币并铸造新代币，通过零知识证明证明他们已经销毁了代币，而无需透露哪些代币。和Tornado Cash有区别，但基本概念是一样的，细节不是这里的重点。

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 长期以来一直主张在区块链上提供更多隐私。他比所有人都知道拥有透明钱包意味着什么，全世界都在关注他将资金发送到哪里。

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.

在一篇长篇自传博客文章中，他谈到了“我童年的结束”。2022 年 2 月 23 日是一个关键日期。 “我仍然记得当地时间早上 7 点 20 分，当我在丹佛的酒店房间里看电视时，心里充满了恐惧。” 俄罗斯驾驶坦克越过边境，并向基辅派遣轰炸机。俄罗斯在外国土地上进行国家组织的大规模屠杀不仅对德国总理舒尔茨来说是一个转折点，对布特林来说也是如此。

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，他得知乌克兰政府正在 Twitter 上寻求加密货币捐赠。他首先认为这肯定是一个骗局，可能是俄罗斯人所为，但很快发现这是真的，并将其发布在推特上。接下来发生的事情将改变一切：“一个小时后，一位亲戚给我发了一条消息，为了我自己的安全，我不应该再前往俄罗斯。”

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 亲身经历了财务透明度是多么令人不安。他开始使用匿名协议进行匿名捐赠，首先是“龙卷风现金”，然后是“轨道枪”。他强调，隐私是“正常的”，这意味着它应该成为标准，而不是例外。他开始更多地关注使以太坊更加私密的技术，例如隐形地址，并通过他的名字的影响力使这些技术变得突出。

A Second Vision for Crypto

加密货币的第二个愿景

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.

但这位以太坊联合创始人的转折点并不止于此。他还意识到，他之前只关注加密货币的中立、道德超然的行为是有代价的。

„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决定都涉及回应其他人的压力和愿望。 2017年我会见弗拉基米尔·普京时，我没有参与安排会面； “好的，因为这对以太坊有利，即使有人批评普京；”好吧，因为以太坊更有可能改变普京，而不是相反。现在，五年后，“我终于意识到（i）我已经让自己成为了种族灭绝独裁政权合法化的帮凶，并且（ii）我不再有奢侈地依靠加密货币空间并让神秘的“其他人”主持节目。”

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 不再是自己创造的吉祥物，而是寻求并制定“加密货币空间如何发展以更好地满足 21 世纪的需求和要求的第二个愿景。”他不再希望在这个世界上被其他人左右。他创造的成功，而是他自己塑造的；不向有助于市场成功的因素妥协，而是回归根源、回归理想。

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.

区块链应该保护人们的自由。他们应该授予自主权和隐私，解决“匿名且不值得信赖”或“完全验证”的邪恶二分法，创造财务独立等等。区块链应该实现这些理想；他们应该促进一个更美好世界的乌托邦，而不是冒着陷入反乌托邦的风险。

Defensive Acceleration

防御加速