Aztec Labs is developing a hybrid zero-knowledge (ZK) rollup to enable the execution of smart contracts in a private, trustless, and scalable manner on the Ethereum blockchain.
Unlike other Ethereum ZK rollups, Aztec's solution combines private and public execution in a single rollup, allowing encrypted transactions to occur solely on a user's device. This hybrid zkRollup could be used to enable confidentiality in various decentralized applications, including gaming, private voting in DAOs, and executing private trades on public automated market makers.
The team is also working on a privacy-focused smart contract programming language called Noir, which is open source and designed to prove any cryptographic backend. Aztec Labs aims to launch a local developer testnet in Q3 and fully remote testnets at the beginning of next year.