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Early MakerDAO Developer and Stablecoin Pioneer Found Dead (coindesk.com) 46

Nikolai Mushegian, an early developer of MakerDAO, the largest decentralized finance protocol, as well as a contributor to multiple crypto projects, was found dead on Friday in San Juan, Puerto Rico, according to local news outlet El Nuevo Dia. CoinDesk reports: According to the news article, a 29-year-old man identified as "Nicolai Arcadie Muchgian" was dragged by water currents close to Condado Beach. Beach patrols managed to retrieve his body from the ocean but there were no vital signs. The area is known for its dangerous strong oceancurrents that have caused several fatalities, according to the paper. (CoinDesk obtained a copy of a press release from the Puerto Rico Police Department consistent with the details reported by El Nuevo Dia.)

Mushegian contributed to the development of multiple blockchain projects and was heralded as a prolific architect of blockchain-based decentralized financial platforms and stablecoin systems. Most notably, he was MakerDAO founder Rune Christensen's original technical partner on the project and worked on the protocol and its decentralized stablecoin DAI between 2015 and 2018, according to his personal website. He was not involved in the protocol's development lately, a MakerDAO contributor told CoinDesk. He also co-founded the automated market maker Balancer and Reflexer's RAI, which is an ether-backed stablecoin and a fork of DAI.

Most recently, he was working on a crypto project called Rico, a free-floating decentralized stablecoin system that aimed to be the "spiritual successor of DAI" and designed in a way that DAI was originally intended "without compromises." "Nikolai was one of the only people in the early days of Ethereum and smart contracts who was able to predict the possibility of smart contract hacks and invented the security-oriented approach to smart contract design we know today," Christensen tweeted Monday. "Maker would have been toast without him."
"Mushegian's cryptic last tweet posted only a few hours before his death prompted speculation in crypto circles about the circumstances of his death and mental health," adds CoinDesk.
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Early MakerDAO Developer and Stablecoin Pioneer Found Dead

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  • He clearly said the secret service agencies where going to kill him.
    • by splutty ( 43475 )

      Small problem with that. If you're going to say the secret service agencies are going to kill you, and then you end up dead a couple hours later... That's.. Not how that works..

      • Small problem with that. If you're going to say the secret service agencies are going to kill you, and then you end up dead a couple hours later... That's.. Not how that works..

        Quite likely could be, if you guessed the wrong agencies or groups. E.g. he blamed the CIA and Mossad, but it could easily be a drugs cartel or North Korea (I won't name the FSB because that would be too fashionable at this point). A tweet like this could mean he was a paedo and about to try escaping or that he was onto the people that were trying to get him but guessed wrong about who they were.

        TBH sounds like the tweet of someone going paranoid, but as they say "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean

        • by haruchai ( 17472 )

          "(I won't name the FSB because that would be too fashionable at this point). A tweet like this could mean he was a paedo and about to try escaping"
          How fashionable of you

        • ...but as they say "just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you".

          Who told you to say that?!??!!?!?!?!?!?

    • Hurry, get you aluminum foil hat!
    • by Anonymous Coward

      People say a lot of stupid shit, specially when they suffer mental health issues.

  • Someone died. Give me the conspiracies.
    • by weeboo0104 ( 644849 ) on Thursday November 03, 2022 @08:30AM (#63021465) Journal

      With all those billions of crypto he earned, maybe he decided to take a year off, dead. For tax reasons.

    • Re: (Score:1, Funny)

      by Black Parrot ( 19622 )

      Someone died. Give me the conspiracies.

      Can't wait to see all the conspiracy theories that come out when Trump eventually dies. It will likely become the biggest bs magnet since the JFK assassination.

      I'm thinking about writing some books about it in advance, so I can get them to publishers within hours of his death.

      • I'm thinking about writing some books about it in advance, so I can get them to publishers within hours of his death.

        That... is a surprisingly good idea.

      • Be careful that you don't store any copies of your drafts on any of the cloud services, the NSA might think that you're a would-be assassin.
        • Be careful that you don't store any copies of your drafts on any of the cloud services, the NSA might think that you're a would-be assassin.

          A) think of the publicity.
          B) being arrested by the NSA or secret services is probably one of the better ways for you to to stay safe around publication time.

          Unless, of course, they do an Epstein on you, which could be very very profitable for your family.

      • Partisans of every stripe believe the most unimaginable bullshit about him, dispite undeniable evidence to the contrary.

        Exploiting this weakness in the brain dead electorate should net you a large and diverse audience. You are a genius.

  • Criminal trades (Score:2, Insightful)

    by gitano_dbs ( 1490853 )

    You engage on criminal trades, you can end dead. Colour me surprised.

  • Can we have a section for obituaries? Asking for a dead friend.

    • When nerds and geeks die, it makes me extra sad. It's 10x the loss of a newb poking at a phone. The world has lost a little bit of inventiveness and ingenuity. I don't understand the whole police death funeral thing. We should instead hold massive funerals for the engineers.

      • I don't understand the whole police death funeral thing. We should instead hold massive funerals for the engineers.

        That? That's easy. Just for a union.

        Hell, once unionized you can even have fancy uniforms and funny hats for everyone.
        Or better yet, collective bargaining and healthcare benefits. [bls.gov]

        Downside to that is you will probably go to less funerals for engineers. But those you go to will be MUCH fancier.

  • hmmm... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by rmdingler ( 1955220 ) on Thursday November 03, 2022 @07:53AM (#63021389) Journal

    "CIA and Mossad and pedo elite are running some kind of sex trafficking entrapment blackmail ring out of Puerto Rico and caribbean islands. They are going to frame me with a laptop planted by my ex gf who was a spy. They will torture me to death."

    Reeks of a desperate, panicking individual in a jam.

    • Was he trying to use the Marion Barry "Bitch set me up" defense when he got caught in bed with a live boy? Or did he get the Epstein treatment, drowning himself after falling on a knife four times?
      • Or. Maybe, he took one last hit from his pipe, tripped over a Lego Batman in his sockless Crocs, and thought to himself as he drowned, "Really... like this?

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Cutterman ( 789191 )

      More like someone who has been smoking too many illegal substances I'd say..........

    • 99 crypto-guys on the wall, 99 crypto creeps,
      One gets drowned, floating around,
      99 crypto-guys on the wall...*

      *It's stable AND deflationary. So the number never goes down.

  • He got caught with CP and meeting up in PR to use some trafficked child. Blame the CIA, Mossad, and an ex-gf who gave him a loaded laptop. Drink yourself stupid, take drugs, walk into the ocean while you're not making good decisions about self-preservation.
  • As a local, that area is SUPER dangerous. You really need to know how it works. There is a reason why San Juan was never captured via the water; three forta shooting at you in a cross formation and the bleeding currents that basically turned ANY ship into a, more less, sitting duck.

    Some people don't listen to advice.

    Albert

Old programmers never die, they just hit account block limit.

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