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Aztec is a privacy-first Layer 2 network on Ethereum built on zero-knowledge rollup technology. It enables fully programmable private smart contracts using the Noir language, allowing developers to build applications where transaction data and contract state remain encrypted on-chain. Aztec's proving system (PLONK/Honk) underpins its privacy guarantees, and the network launched its Ignition mainnet in late 2025.
Aztec is a privacy-first Layer 2 network on Ethereum built on zero-knowledge rollup technology. It enables fully programmable private smart contracts using the Noir language, allowing developers to build applications where transaction data and contract state remain encrypted on-chain. Aztec's proving system (PLONK/Honk) underpins its privacy guarantees, and the network launched its Ignition mainnet in late 2025.
Founded in 2018 by Zac Williamson and Joe Andrews in London, Aztec began as a project called CreditMint—a decentralized corporate loan platform. While building it, Williamson (a particle physicist) realized that on-chain privacy was the deeper unsolved problem. He pivoted to building privacy infrastructure, co-invented the PLONK zero-knowledge proof protocol, and launched Aztec as a ZK rollup privacy network for Ethereum.
Aztec launched its AZTEC token public sale using Uniswap's continuous clearing auction mechanism, with public bidding running December 2–6, 2025, at a $350M FDV (75% discount to last equity round valuation).
Aztec launched its Ignition mainnet in late 2025, marking the first fully decentralized privacy-preserving L2 on Ethereum powered by ZK rollup technology and the Noir smart contract language.
Aztec Labs published a detailed history of the company, tracing its roots from CreditMint in 2017, the pivot to ZK privacy, the development of PLONK, and the evolution toward a fully programmable privacy L2.
Zac Williamson and Joe Andrews joined the Bankless podcast to discuss Aztec's vision for a private world computer, programmable privacy, and the road to Aztec mainnet.
Aztec Labs announced the deprecation of Aztec Connect, its privacy bridge between Ethereum and Aztec, to concentrate all resources on building a general-purpose programmable privacy network.
Andreessen Horowitz published a long-form piece explaining why they led Aztec's Series B, citing Aztec's PLONK proof system, Noir language, and vision for encrypted Ethereum as key differentiators.
Aztec Network closed a $100 million Series B round led by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z crypto), with participation from a_capital, King River, Variant, SV Angel, and others. Funds earmarked for global engineering hiring and network development.
Aztec open-sourced Noir, a Rust-like language for writing zero-knowledge circuits and private smart contracts on Aztec. Noir significantly lowered the barrier to building ZK applications beyond the Aztec ecosystem.
Series A round of $17M led by Paradigm, with participation from Ethereal Ventures, Libertus Capital, Variant Fund, Nascent, and angel Vitalik Buterin. Proceeds fund network decentralization and ZK proving system development.
Zac Williamson and Ariel Gabizon published the PLONK paper, introducing a universal and updateable structured reference string for ZK-SNARKs. PLONK became one of the most widely adopted proof systems in the ZK ecosystem.
Co-Founder
Co-founded Aztec alongside Zac Williamson. Leads product and go-to-market. Previously CTO of a Silicon Valley food-tech startup.
$119M raised total