Aztec Connect, the network’s privacy infrastructure that served as Ethereum’s encryption layer, has been shut down.
Aztec Network formally announced the impending shutdown of Aztec Connect and plans to stop accepting deposits through the service on March 17 at front-ends including zk.money and zkpay.finance.
Users will be able to withdraw money from Aztec Connect without paying any fees for a year, according to a blog post from Aztec. Aztec stated that although withdrawals will always be possible, they will become much more difficult after March 21, 2024.
They advise users to withdraw money as soon as possible. According to the news, Aztec Connect has more than 100,000 users since its start in July 2022.
The existing system will no longer publish rollup blocks that process Aztec Connect transactions as of March 2024 since Aztec will no longer run a sequencer.
The notice states that all rollup capabilities will stop and that contract permissions will be renounced. Aztec encourages the community to fork, deploy, and use a new version of the system since the company has fully open-sourced the whole Aztec Connect protocol. Aztec declared:
“We’d love to see an independently-operated Aztec connect and are ready to fund it”
The release claims that Aztec Connect’s closure represents a turning point in the creation of a decentralized, open-source, encrypted blockchain. Before introducing Aztec Connect in July 2022, Aztec first tried using a zk-Rollup with Aztec 1, which was “slow, inefficient, expensive,” and had only “basic private transfers” as its capabilities.
The study done with Aztec Connect, which served as a foundation for a completely programmable version of encrypted rollups, will be useful and essential to the creation of a next-generation blockchain, stressed Aztec, who also added:
“It’s undeniable that Aztec Connect was an important stepping stone towards realizing our ultimate goal. It’s now time for us to focus fully on that goal: a decentralized general-use encrypted blockchain.”
Aztec intends to concentrate on creating Noir, a universal zero-knowledge language, and the next-generation encrypted blockchain after shutting down Aztec Connect.
The announcement comes as ConsenSys gears up for the March 28 public testnet launch of its zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine rollup. After more than four years of development, the launch could lead to quicker settlements on the Ethereum blockchain, more throughput, and improved security.
