Railgun
RAILA zero-knowledge-based privacy protocol on Ethereum
Performances
RD Popularity Index
RD Growth Index
| 1h | 24h | 7d | 30d | 60d | 90d |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.45% | 11.73% | 27.33% | 26.85% | 46.00% | 65.74% |
Revenue & Burn
Protocol income
$188.52KBuyback funds
$108.03KBurn funds
--Buyback ratio
57.3%Protocol funds over time
Monthly amounts & ratios
| Period | Protocol income | Buyback funds | Burn funds | Buyback ratio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 2026 | $188.52K | $108.03K | -- | 57.3% |
| Sep 2026 | $385.5K | $225.4K | -- | 58.5% |
| Aug 2026 | $304.71K | $201.93K | -- | 66.3% |
| Jul 2026 | $329.41K | $175.9K | -- | 53.4% |
| Jun 2026 | $293.76K | $82.28K | -- | 28.0% |
| May 2026 | $330.52K | $96.26K | -- | 29.1% |
Comparison
Fundraising
Top Holders
| Address | Token | Quantity | Percentage | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0xee6a...ee20 |   RAIL | 41,870,265.51 | 69.78% | $91.27M |
| 0xe8a8...ff40 | RAIL | 2,208,181.25 | 3.68% | $4.81M |
| 0x2837...b2cb | RAIL | 1,325,903.87 | 2.21% | $2.89M |
Open Markets
| # | Exchange | Pair | Price | +2% depth | -2% depth | Volume (24h) | volume % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RAIL/WETH | $1.97 | $111,661 | $111,326 | $394,047 | 24.14% | |
| 2 | RAIL/WETH | $1.96 | $29,842 | $29,752 | $229,390 | 14.05% | |
| 3 | USDT/RAIL | $1.73 | $139 | $138 | $24 | 0.00% | |
| 4 | USDC/RAIL | $1.92 | $3,286 | $3,277 | $22 | 0.00% | |
| 5 | USDC/RAIL | $1.92 | $177 | $177 | $13 | 0.00% | |
| 6 | PPoloniexCEX | RAIL/USDT | $2.27 | $0 | $0 | $12 | 0.00% |
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About Railgun
Railgun is a zero-knowledge privacy protocol deployed on Ethereum and other EVM-compatible chains. Its core business allows users to 'shield' tokens from public addresses into a private balance, then conduct transfers, swaps, or other DeFi interactions without revealing sender, receiver, amount, or token type to external observers. The system uses zk-SNARKs (Groth16) to generate cryptographic proofs that validate transactions without exposing details.
The key competitive narrative is the 'Proof of Innocence' mechanism. This feature uses zero-knowledge proofs to demonstrate that a user's funds are not associated with known malicious sources (such as hacks or sanctions), while still preserving full privacy. This differentiates Railgun from other privacy tools by attempting to satisfy both user privacy needs and regulatory compliance concerns simultaneously. The protocol also supports arbitrary ERC-20 tokens and smart contract interactions, making it more flexible than simple transfer-focused mixers.
Market pain points addressed: public blockchains expose all transaction data, allowing analytics firms to label wallets, track fund flows, and front-run trading strategies. Existing privacy solutions often require trusted bridges, fragmented liquidity, or separate chains. Railgun operates entirely on-chain without bridges or new consensus layers, maintaining composability with the broader DeFi ecosystem.
Development in the past six months (2026-02-28 to 2026-08-29): The Kohaku Initiative released an SDK enabling developers to integrate Railgun privacy directly into any EVM wallet with minimal overhead. A significant update implemented ERC-4337 account abstraction, allowing private transactions to route through the standard mempool without relying on centralized relayers, improving censorship resistance. A CLI demo wallet was launched to showcase real SDK functionality. Third-party wallets like Railway Wallet expanded to desktop and browser extension platforms, supporting private swaps and yield positions.
Negative developments within two years: The broader regulatory environment for privacy protocols remains uncertain, following precedents like Tornado Cash sanctions. Railgun's privacy set effectiveness depends on user adoption—low usage on a particular chain reduces anonymity guarantees. The protocol also faced criticism regarding the complexity of generating ZK proofs, which requires computational resources and time.
RAILGUN is an on-chain privacy system deployed across Ethereum, BSC, Polygon, and Arbitrum, using zero-knowledge cryptography to enable private smart contract and DeFi interactions without leaving the underlying chain. The protocol is fully non-custodial, with no owner, and offers 0zk addresses that conceal transaction details on public explorers.
Key milestones:
2021: RAILGUN mainnet launch, introducing the first fully on-chain privacy solution that requires no trusted bridges or separate validators. Its architecture—using UTXO models and zk-SNARKs—allows users to privately swap, lend, and interact with dApps, with each transaction increasing overall privacy for all users.
2023: The protocol gained significant attention when Vitalik Buterin repeatedly transferred ETH and USDC to RAILGUN (662 ETH over 10 months, plus 693.91 ETH and 340,000 USDC in separate transactions), signaling credible endorsement from Ethereum's co-founder and validating the project's technical rigor.
2023: RAILGUN V3 upgrade delivered modular gas optimizations, alternative mempool relayers, intent-based routing, NFT permission cards, and the Connect feature for easier dApp integration—reducing friction while maintaining privacy guarantees.
2024: The protocol faced regulatory scrutiny when Andrew Tate was investigated for depositing $30 million into RAILGUN over two years, highlighting the tension between privacy and compliance. RAILGUN responded by emphasizing its 'Private Proofs of Innocence' mechanism, which allows users to cryptographically prove non-involvement with known illicit actors without revealing transaction details.
2024: RAILGUN V4 introduced further decentralization and efficiency improvements, cementing its position as the leading on-chain privacy layer with over $2 billion in cumulative transaction volume.
Positive factors: In July 2026, the DAO approved a one-time mint of 2.5 million RAIL for security rewards and ecosystem development, and raised the biweekly staker payout from 2.00% to 4.20% of treasury balances, boosting staking yields in the short term; a proposal to deploy the protocol to Base was also put forward, which could expand fee sources if implemented.
Negative factors: The mint diluted existing holders by approximately 4.3%; as of September 5, protocol TVL was about $99.78 million, of which 82.9% was staked RAIL, with actual shielded value only around $15.79 million, indicating limited core usage; 69.4% of circulating supply is locked, making price sensitive to staking flows; market privacy demand has shifted toward privacy coins, pressuring RAIL as a governance token; historical data shows Arbitrum deployment years ago accounts for only 3.6% of shielded balances, so Base expansion may not significantly boost revenue.
Co-founders: Emmanuel Goldstein (DeFi Scientist, founder), Alan Scott (co-founder, focused on privacy and blockchain tech), John Meurer (co-founder, product & engineering). Core executive: Kieran Mesquita (CTO, leading protocol architecture and zero-knowledge proof systems).