MakerDAO Founder Nikolai Mushegian Found Dead in Puerto Rico

Last updated:2024/10/13
Why Trust BTCC
BTCC, a seasoned player in the cryptocurrency sector, has established a solid foundation of credibility through its over a decade of platform operation and profound industry experience. The platform boasts an experienced team of professional analysts who leverage their keen market insights and profound understanding of blockchain technology to offer precise market analyses and investment strategies to users. Furthermore, BTCC adheres to rigorous editorial standards, ensuring that every report and analysis is fact-based, striving for objectivity and fairness, thus providing investors with authoritative insights they can rely on. In the rapidly evolving cryptocurrency market, BTCC stands out as an indispensable partner for numerous investors and enthusiasts due to its stability, professionalism, and forward-thinking approach.

A cause of death awaits an autopsy of the MakerDAO founder, who tweeted that he was the target of a murder plot hours before he was found dead on a Puerto Rican beach.

 

Although the investigation continues, Puerto Rican police have found no evidence of foul play in the death of MakerDAO founder Nikolai Mushegian.

 

The body of Mushegian, 29, washed up on a beach in the Condado neighborhood of San Juan, Puerto Rico, last week. Hours before his death, the developer, a foundational figure in the early development of DAOsstablecoins, and Web3 security, tweeted that mysterious forces, including the Mossad, the CIA and a “pedo ring” were planning to kill him. The tweet, predictably, fueled a number of simmering conspiracy theories.

 

However, according to San Juan police records obtained by Decrypt, investigators have thus far found no indication of foul play in Mushegian’s death. Police found “no signs of violence” during a preliminary examination of Mushegian’s body, though he did suffer a small laceration to his skull.

 

Mushegian’s body was recovered on Ashford Beach, an area well-known in San Juan for its dangerous swimming conditions. Numerous swimmers, particularly tourists, have drowned in the area.

 

The beach typically features ample signs warning beachgoers not to swim, due to strong undercurrents and rocky conditions; some of those signs may have been recently washed away, however, by the devastating hurricane that pummeled Puerto Rico in September. The area of Ashford Beach on which Mushegian was found is primarily frequented by surfers. There was no indication that Mushegian had been surfing prior to his death.

 

Puerto Rico Police Bureau’s homicide division is investigating the matter—its involvement is standard practice for all drowning deaths. It is also standard practice for an official cause of death not to be determined until after a formal autopsy, the results of which routinely take a month or more to be filed.

 

A source close to the investigation, however, did say they believe a number of factors in the investigation point to the possibility of Mushegian’s death being considered a suicide.

 

Some who knew him mourned his passing as a preventable tragedy, one indicative of the prevalence of mental health issues afflicting “brilliant but troubled” leaders in the crypto space.

 

In the months leading up to Mushegian’s death, the crypto founder began posting increasingly conspiratorial messages to Twitter, implying that his ex-girlfriend had implicated him in a criminal conspiracy involving government spies.

 

Rune Christensen, Mushegian’s fellow MakerDAO co-founder, told Decrypt that he spoke to Mushegian three months ago, and that Mushegian seemed to be in good spirits. He was however already exhibiting concerns about government and criminal conspiracies.

 

“He seemed happy to be building his new stablecoin RICO,” said Christensen. “But he was also worried about a criminal group he believed was trying to interfere with his work.”

 

Mushegian left MakerDAO in 2018, reportedly dissatisfied with the project’s straying from its initial ideals of decentralization and opposition to government and traditional capital. Christensen is still heavily involved with the protocol, which just last week approved a major partnership with publicly-traded crypto exchange Coinbase, and last month invested $500 million in U.S. government bonds.

 

Mushegian was most recently building RICO, a decentralized stablecoin envisioned as a “spiritual successor” to DAI, MakerDAO’s stablecoin, but that would be, in contrast, designed “without compromises.” However, during his final days, he appeared to be convinced that the stablecoin had provoked state actors who were worried about the cryptocurrency’s potential to threaten the dominance of the central banking system, and that they were planning to assassinate him.

 

Some industry leaders, including Ameen Soleimani—CEO of Spanchain and co-founder of Reflexer, the company behind RAI, an Ethereum-backed stablecoin heavily influenced by Mushegian—have in recent days believe Mushegian was murdered.

 

Sign up for BTCC now to build your own portfolio!


 

Read More:

Aptos price prediction: Is APT token a good investment?

Art Gobblers GOO Review: Why You Should Stay Away From the Token?

GALA Price Drops 13% due to a “$1B Hack”, New pGALA Would Replace

How to Transfer Crypto from Binance to BTCC

Register now to begin your crypto journey

Download the BTCC app via App Store or Google Play

Follow us

Scan to download