Aztec Network Launches First Ever Private DeFi Solution for Ethereum
We’re proud to announce that Aztec Connect is live on mainnet, enabling private DeFi on Ethereum for the first time ever.
By fusing full privacy and L1 DeFi liquidity right on Ethereum mainnet, users no longer need to trade convenience for privacy via alternative privacy chains. With Aztec Connect, Ethereum is now capable of private DeFi all on its own.
To help reveal the power of Aztec Connect, we’ve completely revamped zk.money, our first-party DeFi aggregator. Users can try the comprehensive update today, which allows anyone to use DeFi apps like Lido, Curve, and Element with complete privacy and up to 100x cost savings.
Blockchain transactions are fully public. They leak privacy, exposing user behavior and creating security vulnerabilities. At Aztec we solved the challenge of implementing blockchain privacy by inventing Plonk, the industry-standard zk-SNARK that enables fast privacy for Aztec while securing billions of dollars of on-chain value for the broader zk community.
Aztec Connect is the next major leap toward our long-term vision: a fast, decentralized zero-knowledge network with native smart contract privacy.
Aztec Connect enables anyone to add privacy to Ethereum applications with two easy-to-use developer tools:
- Bridge Contracts: 100–200 line interfaces connecting Ethereum smart contracts to Aztec’s rollup
- SDK: a front-end toolkit enabling beautiful, seamless web interfaces to access Aztec Connect integrations
In simples terms, Aztec Connect works like a VPN: by using Aztec’s rollup contract as a proxy, users interact with Ethereum services from within the Aztec network.
Encrypted instructions are passed to Aztec’s rollup contract on Layer 1, which executes those commands. Aztec batches transactions, reducing user fees and enabling up to 100x cost savings over mainnet Ethereum.
A Private zk-Rollup — Today
The launch of Aztec Connect represents exciting new paradigms for DeFi and beyond:
- Fully confidential Defi actions: staking, vault entry, lending and swaps
- Significant cost reduction for users
- Private treasury management, on-chain DAO governance, and NFT purchasing and trading
And because Aztec Connect relies on Ethereum as its execution environment, protocols keep liquidity and contracts on mainnet while maintaining Ethereum ecosystem composability.
That means partners can access the benefits of a private rollup with:
- No liquidity fragmentation
- No contract redeployment
- No re-audits of code and contracts
Scale and privacy without compromise.
zk.money
We originally built zk.money as a showcase for private payments. Since launch, 75,000 users have entrusted our cryptography with over $100 million in payment volume.
We’ve now expanded zk.money functionality to support beautiful, intuitive access to DeFi interactions that are private by default, starting with acquiring Lido liquid staked Ether (stETH) with Curve and entering fixed rate vaults with Element Finance.
As of today, users can visit zk.money and interact with our Curve-Lido and Element bridges, enjoying mainnet liquidity, full privacy and up to 100x cost savings over Layer 1 Ethereum, with upcoming support for your favorite DeFi apps.
Zk.money demonstrates the simple and elegant user experiences that are possible with the Aztec Connect SDK–a Typescript-based front-end development tool that allows anyone to integrate privacy and cost savings into Ethereum applications.
We’re just getting started and will be bringing more DeFi integrations to zk.money over the coming months.
We’re supporting developers creating fully private DeFi experiences using these tools, and we want to hear from you! The public repo for Aztec Connect can be found here, with documentation found here.
State of Aztec’s Private Rollup
In order to achieve seamless privacy, we’ve made significant improvements to Aztec’s rollup in the last year:
- Performance: throughput increase of over 11x; rollup gas efficiency improvement of 30%+
- UX on L2: chained transactions allows for instant settlement on internal transfers
- UX on L1: support for multi-asset DeFi deposits and withdrawals
Further releases will include gas cost reduction via off-chain viewing keys, lower latency, improved UX and security via native Ethereum signatures, and multi-signature wallet support.
Towards a Community-Driven Rollup
This achievement wouldn’t be possible without the Aztec, Ethereum, and zk communities. More than ever, we are committed to supporting a community-first approach to Ethereum privacy.
That’s what prompted us to launch Aztec Grants, funding the independent development of DeFi protocol integrations with Aztec Connect. We’re excited to be working in collaboration with the grants programs at Aave, Compound, Element, Lido, and more to expand the privacy ecosystem.
If you’re a developer interested in building privacy-first applications, please apply for a grant here.
We also owe a debt of gratitude to the scientists, researchers, and engineers who are building on Plonk and keeping cryptography secure. With their support and collaboration, the dream of blockchain privacy will soon be a reality.
About Aztec Network
Aztec Network is the first private zk-rollup on Ethereum, enabling decentralized applications to access privacy and scale. Aztec’s rollup is secured by its industry-standard Plonk proving mechanism used by the leading zero-knowledge scaling projects.
Aztec’s first-party payments and DeFi aggregation product zk.money has supported over 75,000 unique users, 250,000 transactions, and $100 million in transaction volume since its launch in 2021.
Build with Aztec Connect SDK
Are you a developer who wants to bring privacy to your favorite DeFi protocol? If you build it, we’ll fund it and feature it on zk.money.
Apply for an Aztec Grant here, get started with Aztec Connect here, and check out our developer docs here.
Join us in making privacy a no-brainer.
Join the Aztec Community
We’re always on the lookout for talented engineers and applied cryptographers. If joining our mission to bring scalable privacy to Ethereum excites you — check out our open roles.
And continue the conversation with us on Discord or Twitter.
