Nocturne Labs

Nocturne Labs is a blockchain technology company developing a protocol to enable private accounts on public blockchains like Ethereum. Founded in 2022 by CEO Luke Tchang, the company aims to embed privacy into the core account layer, moving beyond standalone privacy tools. Nocturne's protocol combines stealth addresses, zero-knowledge proofs, and account abstraction to allow users to send, receive, and transact without exposing their full financial history.

The company's first product, launched on the Ethereum mainnet, was a private vault that enabled users to store assets, earn yield, and withdraw to burner wallets anonymously. The intended users range from privacy-conscious individuals to large institutions and DAO payroll systems. The protocol was designed to be composable, allowing for integration with DeFi protocols such as those that use output tokens like Uniswap, Aave, and Compound. Nocturne Labs has stated its commitment to compliance, building in features like address screening at the deposit stage to filter illicit funds.

In October 2023, Nocturne Labs announced a $6 million seed funding round co-led by Bain Capital Crypto and Polychain Capital, with notable participation from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, Bankless Ventures, and HackVC. However, in early 2024, the company announced it was shutting down its V1 protocol, citing a market realization that user experience and cost issues on Layer 2 networks needed to be solved before widespread adoption of on-chain privacy could be achieved. The company has pivoted its focus toward developing new applications.

Keywords: on-chain privacy, private accounts, Ethereum, zero-knowledge proofs, account abstraction, stealth addresses, DeFi privacy, compliant privacy, Luke Tchang, Bain Capital Crypto, Polychain Capital, Vitalik Buterin, blockchain protocol, smart contract wallet, anonymous transactions, crypto privacy, Web3