Balancer Labs Co-Founder Drowns, Twitter Speculates CIA Involvement

Nikolai Mushegian, the co-founder of Balancer Labs, has drowned in Puerto Rico. Mushegian tweeted about a potential death at the hands of the CIA earlier, and the crypto community has already begun speculating.

Reports are emerging Balancer Labs co-founder and MakerDAO developer Nikolai Mushegian has been found dead in Puerto Rico. The 29-year-old reportedly died as a result of drowning, local media say. The reports say that Mushegian was dragged by currents and swept away while swimming at Condado beach.

Mushegian’s body had been rescued, but as yet there is little else known about the incident. Michigan was the co-founder of Balancer Labs and has worked on a fork of the DAI stablecoin. He was a private figure, and he did not have a large presence on social media.

However, he did make the occasional tweet, with the last of these posts saying that the “CIA and Mossad and pedo elite” were going to frame him and torture him to death. He said these entities are some kind of sex-trafficking entrapment blackmail ring and would frame whim with a laptop planted by his ex-girlfriend, who was a spy.

Who Was Nikolai Mushegian?

Mushegian also had his own website, where he talked about various projects and what inspired him. These projects include the DAI fork RAI, Balancer, and DAI, among many other initiatives.

In a world where everybody in the crypto space seems to have an opinion, Mushegian was notably quiet. He predominantly let his development do the talking, offering his thoughts on various aspects of the market occasionally.

Mushegian was also a charitable figure, donating over $1 million to his alma mater Carnegie Mellon in 2020. He wished to support a research program for decentralized technologies, including dApps and protocols.

Crypto Community Speculation Runs Rife

The crypto community was quick to speculate on the nature of his death. They referred to his last tweet and other ones he had posted in the past.

One of these tweets said that some of the possible futures for him would be being “suicided by CIA” or becoming a “CIA brain damage slave asset.”

Most have offered their condolences, noting his achievements and contributions. Ava Labs founder and CEO Emin Gün Sirer also tweeted about the incident, saying that he was very sad to hear this. Tether co-founder Craig Sellars also offered his condolences.