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Fresh off the launch of Ignition Chain, Aztec’s co-founders Zac Williamson and Joe Andrews discuss why they’re rolling out a privacy-preserving L2 now, how they’re approaching decentralization from the start, and why they chose a token sale instead of the airdrop model.

They also explain why they believe most L2s have evolved into “parasitic” ecosystems, how Aztec plans to avoid those incentives, what the AZTEC token is meant to do, and what’s changed in the broader privacy renaissance across crypto.

Guests:

Zac Williamson, Cofounder of Aztec Network
Joe Andrews, Co-founder and President of Aztec Network

Links:

Unchained:

CoinDesk: Privacy-Focused Aztec Network's Ignition Chain Lights Up

Timestamps: 🎙️ 0:00 Introduction 🚀 1:30 Why Aztec launched Ignition Chain and how it works 🔒 6:01 How Aztec’s privacy model differs from Ethereum’s efforts — and from Zcash ⏱️ 15:52 Why Aztec has large block times 💸 17:28 Are fees expensive on Aztec? 👥 22:04 Zac & Joe’s backstory — and how Aztec was born 🏗️ 25:21 Why they built an L2 on Ethereum instead of a standalone chain 🤝 28:38 Whether Aztec competes with — or complements — Ethereum privacy tools like Kohaku 🎯 31:40 Who Aztec is for and the use cases they’re targeting 🆔 34:50 What ZK Passport is and why it matters 🌅 35:57 Whether the privacy renaissance surprised them 🕶️ 39:42 What private DeFi on Aztec could unlock ⚡ 43:36 Why Zac says most L2s are “parasitic” and why Aztec isn’t 🛠️ 46:07 How Aztec plans to decentralize from day one 🪙 50:15 The role of the AZTEC token and details on the upcoming ICO 🎯 53:25 How they aim to run a “fair” token sale 🌍 59:20 Why most countries, even the U.S., can participate in the ICO 💻 1:00:22 Why Aztec built its own programming language ⚖️ 1:07:29 Whether the Tornado Cash case made them hesitant to ship privacy tools 📱 1:11:48 The apps Zac and Joe are most excited about on Aztec 🎮 1:16:31 Why Zac is bullish on ZK-powered onchain games

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