In our unstable and, one might even say, insane times, there are many areas of activity that are dangerous to engage in. Even if these are seemingly things that have nothing to do with politics or global forces of evil. One such industry is cryptocurrencies.
More and more often we come across mysterious deaths of people holding high positions in this field.
More than a year has passed since the mysterious death of MakerDAO co-founder Nikolai Mushegian.
Police in Puerto Rico have yet to find any evidence of a violent crime.
The body of 29-year-old Mushegyan was dumped on a beach in the Condado neighborhood of San Juan, Puerto Rico in October 2022. Hours before his death, the developer, a seminal figure in the early development of DAO, stablecoins and Web3 security, tweeted that mysterious forces including Mossad, the CIA and a “group of pedophiles” were planning to kill him. This tweet, as expected, spawned a number of simmering conspiracy theories.
During a preliminary examination of Mushegian’s body, police found “no signs of violence”, although he had a small wound to his skull.
The Ashford Beach neighborhood where Mushegian was found is mostly frequented by surfers. However, there was no indication that Mushegian had been surfing prior to his death.
The case was investigated by the Puerto Rico Police Department’s homicide unit — its involvement is standard practice for all drowning deaths.
However, a source close to the investigation said they believe a number of factors in the investigation point to the possibility that Mushegian’s death could be considered a suicide. However, this is the typical official cause of death cited by law enforcement agencies when they want to cover up the truth.
In the months before Mushegian’s death, the MakerDAO founder began posting increasingly suspicious messages on Twitter, implying that his ex-girlfriend had implicated him in a criminal conspiracy involving government spies.
Rune Christensen, Mushegian’s colleague at MakerDAO, told reporters that he had spoken with Mushegian shortly before his death and that Musheghian seemed to be in good spirits. However, he had already expressed concerns about the government and criminal conspiracies.
“He seemed happy to be creating his new RICO stablecoin,” Christensen said. “But he was also concerned about a criminal group that he believed was trying to interfere with his work.”
Mushegian left MakerDAO in 2018, reportedly unhappy with the project’s departure from its original ideals of decentralization and opposition to government and traditional capital. Christensen remains actively involved in protocol development.
Just before his death, Mushegian created RICO, a decentralized stablecoin conceived as a “spiritual successor” to DAI , the MakerDAO stablecoin, but it would instead be developed “without compromise.” In his final days, however, he seemed convinced that the stablecoin had provoked government figures who were concerned that the cryptocurrency could threaten the dominance of the central banking system, and that they planned to kill it.
Some industry leaders, including Amin Suleimani — CEO of Spanchain and co-founder of Reflexer, the company behind RAI, an Ethereum-backed stablecoin heavily influenced by Mushegian — have in recent days doubled down on their belief that Mushegian was assassinated.
So, does anyone still have doubts? How can one speak about unintentional death, if a man, being engaged in his projects, was crossing the way of the powerful and hindered even by the very fact of his existence? The question is rhetorical…