Nikolai Mushegian was found dead in the ocean of Puerto Rico on Friday after tweeting that he was being set up by the CIA and Mossad. Mushegian was a long-time crypto developer and the co-founder of Balancer Labs a cryptocurrency investment portfolio company.
The 29-year-old died as a result of drowning at Condado beach in San Juan which is known for having dangerous currents. Eight people died at the beach in 2021.
Mushegian was an important figure in the crypto world and a talented "Dia architect", best known for his work with MakerDAO and proof-of-stakes blockchain network BitShares. Many people who knew the young developer say that he did important work with Maker and played a crucial role in the early days of Ethereum.
After a hack in the market that resulted in the loss of tens of millions of dollars worth of Ethereum, Nikolai was able to set up a defense in the MakerDAO system that prevented the same hack later that year.
Mushagian was quoted saying, "The DappHub team discovered the same recursive withdrawal flaw a few weeks prior to the infamous breach of DAO. The issue was fixed, preventing an impending catastrophe. Because to our clean code and logical interfaces, which reduced the attack surface we had to secure, we were able to do this. Since that time, no active contracts made for MakerDAO have caused us any problems."
Just a few days before his death, Mushegian posted a disturbing tweet accusing the CIA and Mossad of conspiring to frame and torture him to death, which caused a stir in the community.
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.
— (@delete_shitcoin) October 28, 2022
Nikolai Muchgian, 29-yr old #stablecoin innovator, #BitShares contributor, $DAI architect/@MakerDAO co-founder has died in San Juan #PuertoRico, five days after #MakerDAO community approves custodian partnership with @Coinbase
— Craig Sellars (@OmniCraig) October 29, 2022
Rest In Peace, Nikolaihttps://t.co/WFlyGnfP2S
He also made a tweet back in September speculating his own future as a "CIA brain damage slave asset".
3 possible futures for me 1) suicided by CIA 2) CIA brain damage slave asset 3) worst nightmare of people who fucked with me up until now, I am sure these are the only options
— (@delete_shitcoin) September 5, 2022
While he didn't have a large social media presence, he was well-known among the crypto community. This led the community to speculate on his sudden death after his chilling final tweet.
3. On 29th October 2022, Nikolai Mushegian, aged 29 and Co-founder of @MakerDAO, died in a drowning accident in Puerto Rico.
— Quincy (@quincylemuel) November 1, 2022
A day before his death, he dropped a cryptic tweet mentioning the CIA, Mossad, and "pedo elite"
Um, WTF? The man behind this account, Nikolai Mushegian, one of the founders of MakerDAO was found dead three days after posting this online. https://t.co/yhAprAZphq
— Steve Oatley (@steveoatley) November 1, 2022
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