Blockchain is a dark forest. Here, absolute transparency brings trust, but also deprives civilized society of its most fundamental right—privacy. If Web3 is to evolve from a geek toy into financial infrastructure, this piece of the puzzle must be completed. Aztec (@aztecnetwork) was created for this purpose. As a16z has repeatedly emphasized: privacy is not a feature race, but a fundamental technology. Aztec is not just about patching things up on Ethereum. As the first public chain to natively integrate privacy capabilities at the base layer, Aztec saw the end game earlier than others: embedding privacy controls directly within the network from the underlying protocol, rather than adding them afterward. You're already using Aztec (but you might not know): ■ PLONK: The industry-standard proof system, used by zkSync, Polygon, and even Solana. ■ Noir: The self-developed ZK language, ranked among the top 5 fastest-growing ecosystems for developers globally. The Aztec team almost single-handedly built the complete technology stack for modern privacy computing. a16z led a $100 million Series B funding round, spearheaded by a world-class team of cryptographers. In the December 2025 on-chain sale, over 50% of the funding came from the community. This is not just a choice of capital, but a victory of consensus. We are standing at a turning point in the Web3 revolution: by next year, every smart contract will be private. With the upcoming launch of TGE and the execution environment, real-world applications are about to explode on Aztec. The "dark forest" will finally see its "light."