Aztec

Aztec is the leading privacy-first Layer 2 on Ethereum, empowering developers to build applications that protect user privacy. Backed by a $100M Series B led by a16z, Aztec is led by a team of world-class cryptographers who invented the standard for trustless client-side proving—making privacy-preserving apps possible. In a landscape where speed and novelty rarely translate into durable moats, Aztec’s sustained traction, deep institutional adoption, and growing ecosystem around privacy-preserving cryptography validate that its work has broken through the “flock,” proving privacy isn’t a feature race but a foundational technology trusted to underpin real, long-term financial infrastructure. 1. Pioneers of Privacy in Web3 Aztec's team developed PLONK in 2019, a SNARK-based proving system that is computationally inexpensive and only requires one universal trusted setup. PLONK was a big breakthrough, not just for Aztec, but for the wider blockchain community.