Latest news with #AztecNetwork
Finextra
26-06-2025
- Business
- Finextra
Taurus deploys first private stablecoin contract
Taurus SA, the digital asset infrastructure leader, announces the deployment of the first private stablecoin contract. Unlike legacy stablecoins, it offers confidentiality, untraceability, and anonymity, yet permits access to authorized parties (issuers, regulators, law enforcement). 0 This achievement complements Taurus' release of the first open-source private security token in Q1 2025, bringing on-chain privacy to both the cash-leg and the security-leg of digital transactions. Built atop the Aztec Network, this stablecoin contract combines the confidentiality guarantees of zero-knowledge proofs with the compliance features expected from leading stablecoins. 'This marks a major step forward for stablecoins,' said JP Aumasson, Chief Security Officer at Taurus. 'We showed that it's possible to protect the privacy and security of stablecoin users while retaining the features of industry-standard stablecoins. This addresses concerns that we've repeatedly heard from banks looking at issuing stablecoins, central banks, and regulators.' Arnaud Schenk, Executive Director of the Aztec Network board, commented: "Enforced global transparency of public blockchains limits the real-world adoption of stablecoins. Practical adoption for payroll, intra-company transfers, or day-to-day payments simply can't happen if every transaction remains visible to all and immutably inscribed on a widely available ledger. Aztec's zero knowledge Layer 2 is the only platform that delivers both airtight privacy for users, and granular issuer defined controls baked directly into the token." A timely step as regulatory clarity emerges This deployment follows a recent major milestone in stablecoin issuance: the US Senate passed the GENIUSAct, a landmark bill establishing a legal framework for the issuance and oversight of stablecoins. The timing couldn't be more relevant—stablecoin supply has surged past $250 billion, a 1200% growth since 2020. Taurus expects the total stable coin supply to reach $1-2 trillion by 2030 as demand increases across institutional and consumer markets, pushed by favorable regulation. Taurus's privacy-preserving contract addresses the growing need for compliant, secure digital cash solutions in this expanding space. All major stablecoin functionalities covered This breakthrough from Taurus combines the confidentiality of transfers with the compliance features required by regulators. The smart contract covers critical functionalities required by a stablecoin. In particular, it supports Circle USDC's core features: • Centralized, admin-controlled mint and burn. • Pause/unpause capabilities, to halt transfers in case of an emergency. • Address blacklisting to enforce sanctions and other compliance needs. • Events logging, creating a verifiable audit trail. Yet, unlike traditional stablecoins, all balances and transfers are encrypted and only readable by authorized parties (such as issuers and regulators). This prevents unauthorized parties from monitoring wallets, reverse-engineering investment strategies, or physically targeting high-value users. With this private stablecoin contract, financial institutions, for whom privacy is a concern, will be able to issue stablecoins in payment or treasury applications while ensuring privacy of transfers and of the asset distribution and retaining regulatory observability.
Associated Press
02-05-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Aztec Network's Public Testnet Launch Achieves First Major Milestone In Bringing Privacy To Web3
Programmable privacy solution enables developers to build fully private applications on Ethereum for the first time LONDON, May 1, 2025 (Bitwire) -– Aztec Network today announced the launch of its Public Testnet, celebrating a pivotal milestone in the company's eight-year journey to solve one of blockchain's biggest challenges: privacy. Open to all developers, Aztec introduces the first fully programmable privacy solution that protects sensitive information while still maintaining blockchain's inherent transparency. Testnet follows successful testing of the first decentralized upgrade process for an L2, with over 100 sequencers participating in successful deployments of both DevNet and ProverNet. It represents a crucial step forward as Aztec prepares for a mainnet that will launch fully decentralized from day one - because true privacy means no central entity gets backdoor access. 'We currently view blockchain privacy as all-or-nothing, but it doesn't have to be,' said Zac Williamson, Co-Founder of Aztec Network. 'Developers can use Aztec to build dApps with privacy features that seamlessly blend with Ethereum's existing infrastructure, and they won't need to struggle implementing complex cryptography.' 'We first invested in Aztec in 2022 because we shared its vision for making privacy programmable and accessible for any crypto developer,' said Ali Yahya, General Partner at a16z crypto. 'Privacy is essential for blockchains to gain widespread adoption, enabling many new possibilities for crypto applications in financial services, gaming, identity, AI, and much more. Aztec's testnet launch is a significant step towards building that future.' This is the final step for Aztec following the development of several breakthrough technologies that paved the way to, and now set the stage for, mainnet: PLONK, a novel proving system for user-level privacy and programmability that yielded and Aztec Connect, which was a pivotal moment for privacy and encryption solutions; Noir, an intuitive zero-knowledge, Rust-like programming language; and a client-side library for a private execution environment (PXE). These tools allow developers to explore privacy-preserving applications across any use case where protecting sensitive data is a critical function. For more information about Aztec Network and to participate in the Public Testnet, developers can click here . For node operators looking to help run the network, click here . About Aztec Network Aztec is the only privacy-first Layer 2 on Ethereum, empowering developers to build applications that protect user privacy while enabling compliance. Backed by a $100M Series B led by a16z, Aztec is led by a team of world-class researchers and cryptographers who invented trustless client-side proving—the innovation that makes privacy-preserving apps on mobile possible. Using zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs) and the Noir open-source, Rust-like programming language, Aztec is building a secure and scalable privacy layer for the decentralized future.
