Wu Said Author | Maverick
Editor of this issue | Colin Wu
After the Tornado Cash incident, the privacy track is at a time of crisis of trust. Recently, Aztec Network, a Layer 2 expansion network using the UTXO model and privacy proof, announced the completion of a $100 million Series B round of financing led by a16z crypto and participated by A Capital and others. Aztec Network has previously raised nearly $17 million in Series A financing led by Paradigm. After obtaining financing, Aztec co-founder Andrews said that the funds will be mainly used to hire more engineers around the world to build the network.
Aztec is a zero-knowledge Rollup built on a privacy-first architecture, allowing users to access applications that Layer 1 wants to use while fully protecting privacy. Its product system is based on the underlying PLONK proof system, which enables anonymous transactions between accounts, and The private interaction with DeFi projects is realized through the grafting of gateway contracts. Aztec also recently launched the programming language Noir, making it easier and more convenient for developers to build applications with zero-knowledge proofs on Ethereum.
According to DeFi Llama data, the current TVL of Azetc is about 11 million US dollars. At present, Aztec has no plan to issue Token in the near future, but it is also considered to be a high-value AirDrop similar to Arbitrum and ZkSync, which is expected to be issued. However, the third-party compliance tools of FTX and other exchanges have previously frozen accounts transferred from privacy agreements such as Aztec, and users should pay attention to relevant security when interacting.
This article will introduce the key projects of Aztec ecology.
One of Aztec's key points, Aztec Connect, was officially launched on July 7. This is a set of private Rollup tools that connect the Ethereum DeFi protocol and Aztec. Support privacy DeFi with the help of . Aztec Connect expands the functionality of Zk.money with the addition of blue-chip DeFi partners, which allows privacy access to the protocol on the Ethereum mainnet through batch transactions with other Zk.money users, making it easier and more accessible for Ethereum projects to integrate Aztec . Aztec Connect acts like a DeFi proxy service, allowing anyone to deposit into the Aztec network, interact with Ethereum DeFi, and rely on Layer 1's trusted contracts and liquidity. The current Aztec Connect ecosystem includes Ethereum's mainstream DeFi protocols, including AAVE, Curve, Lido, Compound, and Liquity.
Zk.money
Zk.Money is the first application of Aztec Network, released in March 2021. The old version of Zk.money can only realize simple transfer payment, so that the funds in it can be completely privately sent to another Aztec account or withdrawn to Layer 1, but only supports a small amount of assets such as ETH, DAI and renBTC, and 5 ETH at a time Or a transaction limit of 10,000 DAI. The user sends zkETH or DAI to the username (@name) on Zk.money, and the recipient will get zkETH or DAI; while sending zkETH or DAI to any Ethereum address other than Zk.money, the wallet will receive regular ETH or DAI. Zk.money officially claims to have more than 75,000 registered users since its launch, more than 225,000 transactions and a total transaction of $80 million, while being 96% cheaper than existing privacy transfer protocols.
The new version of Zk.Money adds a private DeFi function while retaining the original transfer payment function. The user's funds can be used to interact with mainstream DeFi protocols under the condition of complete protection of privacy, such as using ETH or DAI to borrow on AAVE , Stake ETH on LIDO to get rewards, deposit DAI to Yearn treasury to get passive income, etc. However, Zk.Money currently only supports the DeFi-Earn function, and the Trade function is still under development.
ZKPay
ZKPay is a fast withdrawal bridge designed for Aztec privacy payment. Depositing and withdrawing assets on the Aztec network may take 6 hours, but only a few seconds on ZKPay. After the v2.0.0 upgrade, ZKPay has supported the transfer of mainstream assets such as ETH, DAI, USDT, and USDC. In addition to supporting the Ethereum mainnet, ZKPay also supports transfers on the Polygon network. Like Zk.Money, ZKPay also sets a transaction limit of 5 ETH or 10,000 DAI. Currently, the swap function of ZKPay is still under test, and the right to participate in the test is limited to VIP members. The ZKPay team created the ZK badge, as long as the total deposit in V1 is 0.1 ETH or the total deposit in V2 is 0.1 ETH and you have made at least 3 deposits to Mint this badge. The team said that in the future, users with ZK badges will get discounts when using ZKPay.
Trelis
Trelis is a non-custodial Ethereum payment integration, which is currently in the beta stage. In the test mode, you can experience Trelis by using the payment link, Trelis API and WooCommerce Plugin. The transaction limit is 100 USDC, and all mainstream Ethereum wallets are supported. Currently TrelisTrelis supports USDC and ETH to generate Token payment links. Trelis has a more prominent feature Gasless Payments, which allows users (senders) to pay without paying for gas, merchants (receivers) pre-purchase Trelis Gas points, and Trelis pays for gas on behalf of users, but this feature is limited to payment with USDC . In addition, it should be noted that if the gas price soars, the USDC transaction will return to the standard transaction, and the customer needs to pay the gas fee; if the total gas payable exceeds 5% of the transaction amount, Trellis will restore the Gasless transaction to the standard transaction. Trelis will charge a 10% gas service fee for this function, and the cost paid by Gasless is about 1.9 times the standard payment.
Nucleo
In November of this year, Nucleo completed a $4 million seed round led by Bain Capital and 6th Man Ventures. Nucleo is a private multi-signature infrastructure that provides organizations with the ability to conduct private transactions, private DeFi, private funding, etc. Public transparency is beneficial, but it also has the potential to expose individuals and organizations to legal, strategic and operational vulnerabilities in many areas, which Nucleo is committed to address. With Nucleo, individuals, communities, and organizations can enjoy privacy while remaining audit-friendly. In addition to working with Aztec, Nucleo also cooperates with Aleo, Espresso. At present, Nucleo only introduces the multi-signature function, and in the future, functions such as DeFi, Fundraise, and private cross-chain transactions will be launched one after another. Nucleo is currently in beta, and users who want to join the test need to join the waiting list.
Like most privacy tracks, the Aztec ecosystem is still in its infancy, with few native projects. Currently, it mainly integrates the DeFi protocol of the main network. Its goal is to realize the private interaction with all protocols and smart contracts of the main network.
Reference article: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/EM58U0CvcXnoGEe9SgI54A
According to the "Notice on Further Preventing and Dealing with the Risks of Virtual Currency Transaction Hype" issued by the central bank and other departments, the content of this article is only for information sharing, and does not promote or endorse any operation and investment behavior. Readers are requested to strictly abide by the laws and regulations of the region and do not participate in Any illegal financial conduct. It does not provide transaction entry, guidance, distribution channel guidance, etc. for any virtual currency, digital collection-related issuance, transaction and financing. Wu said that without permission, it is forbidden to reprint or copy the content, and those who violate it will be investigated for legal responsibility.
