History of Aztec: Pioneering Privacy in Web3 | Aztec Blog

Aztec’s evolution began in 2017 as an onchain finance platform (CreditMint) and transformed into a privacy-focused Ethereum Layer 2. From early cryptographic experiments to developing key tools like PLONK and Noir, the Aztec team prioritized user privacy, programmability, and decentralization. By 2024, they had sunsetted early products like zk.money and Aztec Connect to rebuild from scratch—resulting in the upcoming Aztec mainnet that marries privacy with real-world blockchain use cases.

Key Ideas

Programmable privacy emerged as the missing piece for mainstream blockchain adoption—driving the creation of PLONK and the Noir language.
Aztec Connect and zk.money proved there was demand for private onchain payments, but decentralized architecture required a full rebuild.
Aztec mainnet introduces decentralized Prover and Sequencer networks, browser-optimized proving systems, and client-side proving via PXE.