Unchained

With Aztec's Ignition Chain Launched, Will Ethereum Have Decentralized Privacy? - Ep. 958

71 snips
Nov 23, 2025
Guest
Joe Andrews
Guest
Zac Williamson
Zac Williamson and Joe Andrews, co-founders of Aztec Network, dive into the launch of Ignition Chain, a privacy-preserving L2 solution. They discuss the unique features of Aztec’s privacy model compared to Ethereum's and Zcash, emphasizing its approach to decentralization and private composability. The duo also explores the significance of the AZTEC token in governance and staking, and why they opted for a token sale instead of an airdrop. Their insights highlight the growing demand for privacy in the blockchain space and how Aztec aims to meet these needs.
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INSIGHT

Ignition Chain Validates Decentralized L2s

  • Aztec launched Ignition Chain to run decentralized block production and governance on Ethereum mainnet before enabling transactions.
  • The rollout stages test decentralization, staking, sequencers, and provers before full live transactions early next year.
INSIGHT

Privacy As A Protocol Primitive

  • Aztec treats privacy as a protocol-level primitive to enable private composability across smart contracts.
  • That avoids the complexity explosion of app-level privacy toolchains and makes private contracts interoperable out of the box.
ANECDOTE

Example: Atomic Private Trade Flow

  • Zac explained a composite private transaction: account auth, private DEX, private tokens, and identity proofs all composed atomically.
  • He described this executing as a single private transaction where multiple independently written contracts interoperate.
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