Aztec

Aztec operates a Layer 2 network on Ethereum designed around privacy rather than adding confidentiality as an optional feature. Its public materials describe four core properties: programmable privacy, under which builders can target the user, data, metadata, transaction and code levels using Noir, a Rust-like domain-specific language; client-side proofs, so that sensitive data is proven on a user's own machine rather than exposed to the network; composable privacy across chains and modular applications; and decentralization of sequencing, proving and governance written into the base protocol from day one. The company positions this against approaches that rely on centralized sequencers, backdoors or trusted execution environments.

The network architecture routes public, private or hybrid transactions to a permissionless sequencer network. Sequencer nodes verify incoming private proofs, add private proofs and public transaction requests to a local mempool, and a rotating validator committee — re-selected at random from active sequencers every 32 blocks — executes public functions, updates public and private state, and proposes and validates blocks that form a pending chain on Ethereum. A separate permissionless proving network generates a zero-knowledge proof for each set of 32 blocks, which is posted to Ethereum L1 to finalize blocks. Governance is on-chain and staking-based: a sequencer deploys a new rollup and signals through a Governance Proposer contract, nomination follows once enough sequencers signal support, staking sequencers vote via the Governance contract, and a passing vote makes the new rollup canonical. Sequencer operators must meet minimum bandwidth, CPU, RAM and NVMe SSD requirements.

Earlier generations of the product included zk.money, a private transfer protocol, and Aztec Connect, described at its 2021 announcement as the first private bridge to Ethereum DeFi, allowing users to access L1 liquidity confidentially without redeploying core contracts (developers write a 50–100 line interface) and with claimed cost reductions of up to 100x versus L1. The current stack is at Alpha V5, with V6 planned for later in 2026. An ecosystem of third-party applications has been built on the network, including the Azguard browser-extension wallet, the Aztecscan block explorer, the Nyx application, the Shield Ethereum-to-Aztec bridge, and a port of the Dark Forest strategy game.

Business model

Aztec builds and maintains open protocol infrastructure operated by a permissionless network of third-party sequencers and provers, with the website carrying an Aztec Foundation copyright notice. Network participants stake to sequence, validate and vote on governance, and an AZTEC token exists following a public sale and token generation event. The sources do not describe a fee or revenue-capture mechanism for the company itself.

Traction

By December 2021, first product zk.money had over 20,000 registered users, more than 50,000 transactions and $35 million in total deposits, and was described as 96% cheaper than existing private transfer protocols. The current network reports live block height, network operators and active sequencers on its homepage (values not disclosed in the captured page). Cumulative disclosed fundraising across five rounds is reported at $178.23M, and the AZTEC token listed in February 2026 at $0.0188 with a subsequent market capitalization around $39M and FDV around $140M.

Latest developments

On 7 August 2026 Aztec disclosed a critical vulnerability in the Alpha V5 proving system, identified by core contributors on 27 July 2026 through internal AI-assisted auditing. An attacker could potentially construct a proof that passes verification for a transaction the network should reject, producing an invalid state transition; contributors state they cannot determine whether the flaw was exploited because the system cannot distinguish ordinary accepted transactions from those accepted through the flawed path. Teams were advised to pause planned V5 deployments and add safeguards, and findings will inform circuit updates in V6. Separately, on 4 August 2026 a port of the Dark Forest 0.6 strategy game went live on Aztec Alpha V5, using private notes for home coordinates and fleet movements.