The privacy-focused web3 firm Aztec Network raised $100 million in Series B funding led by the web3 investment firm a16z.
A16z Crypto, a venture capital firm, announced a $100 million Series B investment round for the exclusive layer-2 chain Aztec Network on December 15. A Capital, King River, Variant, SV Angel, Hash Key, Fenbushu, and AVG are other investors in the round.
With the help of a16z, the business hopes to expand its engineering team and create a “next-generation encrypted architecture” that will enable users to check that blockchain guidelines were followed without disclosing any underlying data.
Blockchains with encryption enable users to conduct transactions in privacy and anonymity.“What we’re building is a revolutionary piece of technology that transforms how we interact with each other online, in which the end user is the customer, rather than the product.
End-to-end encrypted blockchains protect individuals, obviating the need for centralized financial systems.”, stated Aztec CEO Zac Williamson in an official announcement.
According to reports, Aztec will launch its testnet in 12 months and complete its mainnet deployment in 24 months.According to the company, their cryptography has been tested in production with Aztec Connect, allowing decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols to include privacy in hundreds of transactions.
Ethereum DeFi protocols including Aave, Curve, Lido, Element, Set Protocol, Compound, and Liquity are a part of Aztec Connect’s ecosystem. The business is also creating a public-private execution layer for its blockchain that will allow for seamless integration of both encrypted and unencrypted applications. Joe Andrews, the co-founder of Aztec, stated:
“From PGP and SSL to end to end encrypted messaging, we rely on encryption in our daily lives for businesses and commerce to thrive. With a16z we are standing on the shoulders of giants to bring the encryption we have enjoyed since Netscape to our digital Web3.0 lives. We couldn’t think of a better partner to help us scale Aztec to mainstream.”
In February 2020, the privacy network of Aztec was formally introduced on the Ethereum blockchain. With Zcash-based technology, it delivered confidential tokens whose amounts were cryptographically masked.
