Aztec Connect Tool’s closure

Aztec, a blockchain platform focused on privacy, is ready to shut down Aztec Connect, the network’s privacy architecture that serves as Ethereum’s encryption layer.

On March 17, Aztec Network will block Aztec Connect deposits from front-ends such as zk.money and zkpay.finance.

According to an Aztec blog post, customers will be able to withdraw cash from Aztec Connect for one year without incurring any penalties. “Withdrawals will always be available, but they will become substantially more difficult after March 21, 2024,” Aztec said, advising customers to remove cash as soon as possible.

The release says that since its introduction in July 2022, Aztec Connect has attracted more than 100,000 members.

Beginning in March 2024, Aztec will no longer operate a sequencer, meaning that the present system will no longer publish roll-up blocks for processing Aztec Connect transactions.

The notice states, “Contract rights will be revoked, and all rollup functionality will be discontinued.”

Since Aztec has open-sourced the complete Aztec Connect protocol, the Aztec community is encouraged to fork, deploy, and manage a new version of the system. Aztec said, “We would love to see an independently operated Aztec Link and are prepared to support it.”

According to the release, the closure of Aztec Connect represents a major milestone in the creation of a decentralized, general-purpose encrypted blockchain.

Before introducing Aztec Connect in July 2022, Aztec experimented with the use of a zk-rollup with Aztec 1, which was “slow, inefficient, and expensive” and confined to “basic private transactions.”

Aztec stressed that the research conducted with Aztec Connect would be applicable and essential to the construction of a next-generation blockchain, offering a foundation for a fully programmable version of encrypted rollups, adding:

“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.”

When Aztec Connect concludes, the company intends to concentrate on building the universal zero-knowledge language Noir and the next-generation encrypted blockchain.

ConsenSys is ready to deploy its zero-knowledge Ethereum Virtual Machine rollup on a public testnet on March 28.

The announcement comes as ConsenSys prepares to release the rollup. The debut will be preceded by more than four years of study, possibly allowing quicker transactions, greater throughput, and enhanced security for Ethereum blockchain settlements.