Aztec launches decentralized and private Ethereum L2 on mainnet, almost

Ethereum layer-2 web Aztec launched its mainnet Wednesday — albeit with partial functionality — marking the motorboat of 1 of the fewer afloat decentralized networks successful the ecosystem.

According to an Aztec email viewed by Cointelegraph, Aztec has launched its “Ignition” mainnet chain, a functional consensus-producing concatenation that generates blocks, but without the astute declaration execution layer.

According to L2Beat, lone the trustless, optimistic rollup web Facet v1 and Aztec’s aged decentralized concern (DeFi) anonymization project, Zk.Money are classed arsenic a signifier 2 strategy with afloat decentralization.

Together with Facet, Aztec is among the fewer protocols with nary centralized “training wheels,” arsenic ownership of the rollup declaration was renounced, and Aztec is neither a rollup processor nor an operator. Users oregon 3rd parties indispensable tally the rollup strategy themselves to retreat oregon transact.

In an email sent to the Aztec mailing database subscribers, the Aztec squad highlighted that “neither the Aztec Foundation, halfway team, nor investors tin tally nodes, stake, oregon enactment successful governance for the adjacent 12 months.” “This makes Aztec the archetypal community-launched L2 successful Ethereum history,” the squad told subscribers.

Source: Aztec

Aztec had not responded to Cointelegraph’s petition for remark by publication.

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Aztec staking is present live

Aztec staking is present disposable to holders, allowing them to enactment successful web consensus, gain artifact rewards and signifier governance decisions. The email suggests that aboriginal stakeholders person higher rewards due to the fact that “early participants payment from distributing artifact rewards amongst less stakers.”

The staking dashboard indicates that 107.2 cardinal AZTEC tokens are presently staked. Both the investors and the improvement squad are presently barred from staking, truthful it is apt that those funds are sourced from the 200 cardinal AZTEC sold successful the genesis sequencer sale, which targets whitelisted assemblage members explicitly to bootstrap the mainnet.

The minimum involvement magnitude (also applicable to delegated stakes) is 200,000 AZTEC, equivalent to astir $6,000 astatine the prices of the ongoing community-only Continuous Clearing Auctions phase. Still, the tokens whitethorn beryllium sold astatine higher prices than the existent $0.03 per AZTEC if request increases.

Related: Vitalik tells Ethereum L2s ‘Stage 1 oregon GTFO’ — Who makes the cut?

The ongoing token sale

Aztec is presently successful the whitelisted assemblage members-only signifier of its token sale, attracting $2.77 cardinal worthy of assets from 2,209 unsocial bidders since its opening connected Nov. 13. This signifier volition adjacent connected Dec. 1, conscionable earlier the nationalist merchantability starts connected Dec. 2 and closes connected Dec. 6.

Aztec token merchantability dates. Source: Aztec

The tokens purchased done the merchantability volition beryllium locked for a minimum of 90 days and up to 12 months, depending connected whether the assemblage votes to merchandise them early. The merchantability volition administer 1.547 cardinal tokens, representing 14.95% of the full supply.

Aztec claims that the token merchantability is taking spot astatine a 75% discount comparative to the implied web valuation from erstwhile fundraising efforts. According to ICO Drops data, Aztec raised $2.1 cardinal successful its effect round, $17 cardinal successful its Series A, and $100 cardinal successful its Series B backing rounds. Backers see Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, Coinbase Ventures, Paradigm, Consensys, Andreessen Horowitz and HashKey Capital, among others.

Still, Aztec’s ain token merchantability disclaimer warns that “any notation to a anterior valuation oregon percent discount is provided solely to pass imaginable purchasers of however the archetypal level terms for the token merchantability was calculated.” The level terms presently stands astatine 0.000010 ETH, oregon astir $0.03 per AZTEC — putting the task astatine a afloat diluted valuation of $310 million. The disclaimer besides notes that unsold tokens “may beryllium claimed backmost by the Foundation.”

On Dec. 6, a Uniswap excavation containing 273 cardinal AZTEC (2.64% of supply) volition spell unrecorded to bootstrap liquidity. Tokens bought connected the secondary marketplace volition not beryllium taxable to lockups.

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