Vitalik Buterin is discouraged by Layer 2, but Aztec has something to say that has caused a huge stir. Vitalik's recent comments about L2 have sparked widespread discussion throughout the crypto community. His core argument is that, from a technical perspective, L2s is stuck at Stage 1, and from an ecosystem perspective, most of them are unoriginal and reinventing the wheel, simply repeating the mainnet's approach. Meanwhile, high-speed L1s are developing rapidly.
Is L2 really useless?
Let's start with a simple introduction!
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Objectively speaking, Vitalik Buterin's remarks were more about offering insights into Ethereum's expansion from a technological ecosystem perspective, rather than genuinely pessimistic about Layer 2. In fact, regardless of whether his wishes are fulfilled, a large number of Layer 2 projects with different focuses are developing quite well. Can you say Base2 isn't vibrant? Can you say Blast2 isn't exciting? However, they all seem to be straying from the original intention of scaling Ethereum under decentralized and privacy-preserving conditions.
Aztec, however, has always been on this path.
Purely technical projects receive less attention, but they are extremely important. In short, Aztec is the first truly decentralized Layer 2 network on Ethereum. Note, the first! Aztec Ignition Chain is currently live on the Ethereum mainnet and continuously producing blocks. Driven by privacy-first technology and principles, Aztec's uniquely positioned Layer 2 network is a true innovator in seamlessly scaling Ethereum.
Decentralization and privacy—if either of these two crucial elements is lost, things lose their purity. Most Layer 2 developers prioritize business needs, forcing technological compromises and concessions—either to fit their own ecosystem's business requirements, or because they genuinely lack the technical capability.
With Aztec, all developers are about to enter a new era where all smart contracts are private. Aztec will become a privacy infrastructure that empowers developers, just like water, electricity, and light. More importantly, their solution embeds privacy controls directly into the network layer, rather than being a decentralized system that is "overlaid" on demand afterward.
If you're familiar with the privacy sector or cryptography, PLONK and Noir should be no strangers; these are technical contributions that Aztec made almost entirely independently. Noir is a zero-knowledge programming language with syntax similar to Rust, allowing developers to quickly write ZK circuits in a familiar way. The Noir ecosystem has seen rapid developer growth in recent years, becoming a popular choice for ZK application development, used to build privacy-focused DeFi, identity authentication, and other applications. PLONK is an efficient and universal zk-SNARK proof system, also proposed by the Aztec team. It requires only a single, universal trust setup to support various complex calculations and is now an industry standard. A quick search reveals that several familiar projects, such as Mina, Polygon zkEVM, Scroll, and Linea, all use PLONK or its variants.
What's truly remarkable is that Aztec isn't just a tech enthusiast; its ecosystem is thriving. Surprisingly, public chains specializing in privacy technology are highly favored by traditional finance, which is particularly impactful given the current trend of blockchain technology converging with TradFi. TradFi, Stablecoin, and RWA all need to leverage public chains like Aztec—with their privacy-first approach, robust technology, and high scalability—to achieve large-scale adoption. JPMorgan Chase, Taurus, and others have already partnered with them.
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In its 2026 Blockchain Landscape Report, a16z dedicated a separate chapter to privacy. Many are unaware that a16z also invested $100 million in Aztec's Series B round in this sector. At the time, they were likely drawn to the team's strong background; they invented and defined trustless client-side proofs. Last year, Aztec further showcased its on-chain capabilities with a fully on-chain public offering, with over half the funds coming from community contributions. This demonstrates that beyond technology, capital, and resources, Aztec also enjoys broad community support.
In Q1 2026, Aztec should have some major announcements regarding technology and governance. I highly recommend following their official Twitter account @aztecnetwork. I just discovered they've already provided the Ticker $AZTEC, and clicking on the webpage clearly shows the TGE countdown is 2 days away! The page also provides some details: there are currently 4025 nodes on the network, and 925 million $AZTEC have been staked. This startup data is quite impressive.
The big one is coming.
Wish us luck!
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Author: anymose | A softcore science writer. This article is for popular science purposes only and does not constitute any investment advice. Always remember DYOR!
