Aztec, a privacy-focused layer-2 network built on Ethereum, has released a major upgrade that fixes a critical security flaw and speeds up private transactions.
The Aztec Foundation announced the upgrade, called Aztec Tierra and designated Alpha V6, on Tuesday, 3 November.
A critical fix
The upgrade fixes a critical vulnerability found in the previous version, V5, and adds further security hardening. The foundation says it has also added an automated security testing system and formal verification, a mathematical method of checking that code behaves as intended, for its core cryptographic components.
The foundation had not said how the V5 vulnerability was found, or whether any funds were at risk, at the time of writing.
Faster private transactions
The proofs that make Aztec transactions private, generated on the user’s own device, now take about one second on a standard device, twice as fast as before, according to the foundation.
Messages sent from Ethereum to Aztec now arrive in as little as 12 seconds, down from an average of two minutes.
Privacy by default
Aztec lets developers build smart contracts that keep transaction details private. The foundation says the network has more than 3,000 validators, with no central operator ordering transactions and no special keys that let anyone view private data.
“Privacy shouldn’t be something you have to request or trust someone else to protect,” said Zac Williamson, co-founder and CEO of the Aztec Foundation. “It should be built into the network.”
Apps highlighted alongside the upgrade include zk.money, a private payments and savings app from Aztec Labs, private trading app Nemi and private browser wallet Nulo.
What happens next
The upgrade remains part of Aztec’s alpha network, so developers and users will be watching whether the security fixes hold and whether more apps launch on the faster version.
