AZTEC is an efficient zero-knowledge privacy protocol and decentralised exchange. The protocol powers real world financial applications on Ethereum mainnet today. A complete explanation of AZTEC can be found in our white paper.
This is a proof of concept. The trusted setup was generated by our team internally. We will be releasing more information about the production trusted setup generation in the near future. Use at own risk.
AZTEC is maintained as a monorepo with multiple sub packages. Please find a comprehensive list below.
Package | Version | Description |
---|---|---|
aztec.js |
An aggregate package combining many smaller utility packages for interacting with the AZTEC Protocol | |
@aztec/artifacts |
Aztec smart contract compiled artifacts | |
@aztec/contract-addresses |
A tiny utility library for getting known deployed contract addresses for a particular network. |
Package | Description |
---|---|
@aztec/contracts |
AZTEC Protocol solidity smart contracts & tests |
@aztec/demo |
Demo of AZTEC written in javascript |
To fiddle with our cryptography engine and create your own AZTEC notes:
$ npm install aztec.js --save
To integrate our deployed contracts' ABI and addresses:
$ npm install @aztec/artifacts @aztec/contract-addresses --save
To see a demo on the Rinkeby testnet:
git clone git@github.com:AztecProtocol/AZTEC.git
cd AZTEC/packages/demo
Now, make sure you use your own private keys instead of the defaults in accounts.json
. Then:
npm install
npm run demo:rinkeby
For more information, check out our documentation.
- node ^4.0.0 and npm^2.14.2
- solidity 0.4.24
$ npm install lerna@^3.10.6 --global
$ npm install truffle@^5.0.0 --global
To install the node modules in all packages:
$ lerna exec -- npm install
To build all packages:
$ lerna run build
To build a specific package:
$ lerna run build --scope aztec.js
To clean all packages:
$ lerna run clean
To clean a specific package:
$ lerna run clean --scope aztec.js
To lint all packages:
$ lerna run lint
To lint a specific package:
$ lerna run lint --scope aztec.js
To run all tests:
$ lerna run test
To run tests in a specific package:
$ lerna run test --scope aztec.js
The protocol enables transactions of value, where the values of the transaction are encrypted. The AZTEC protocol smart contract validator, AZTEC.sol
, validates a unique zero-knowledge proof that determines the legitimacy of a transaction via a combination of homomorphic encryption and range proofs.
Instead of balances, the protocol uses AZTEC notes. A note encrypts a number that represents a value (for example a number of ERC-20 tokens). Each note has an owner, defined via an Ethereum address. In order to spend a note the owner must provide a valid ECDSA signature attesting to this.
The AZTEC protocol can enable confidential transactions for any generic digital asset on Ethereum, including existing assets. For our proof of concept implementation of the AZTEC protocol, we attached an AZTEC token to MakerDAO's DAI token. This smart contract can be used to convert DAI from its public ERC-20 form into a confidential AZTEC note form.
The AZTEC protocol can be utilized as a stand-alone confidential token, with value transfers described entirely through AZTEC join-split transactions
The AZTEC protocol and its decentralized exchange protocol extension (coming soon) can be used to trade AZTEC assets in complete confidentiality, without having to expose the values or prices of any trade.
The gas costs scale with the number of input and output notes in a join-split transaction. For a fully confidential transfer, with 2 input notes and 2 output notes, the gas cost is approximately 900,000 gas. Planned EIP improvements will reduce the cost of these transactions dramatically, to approximately 200,000 - 300,000 gas.
The AZTEC protocol is live today on the Ethereum main-net. Our proof of concept contract converts DAI into AZTEC note form and is live on the Ethereum main-net. Here is an example AZTEC join-split transaction.
AZTEC will provide efficient and easy to use transaction privacy to the next generation of digital asset builders. We will be releasing the following information, open source technology and protocol upgrades over the coming months:
- Release the full AZTEC token standard, with associated API tools to construct confidential transactions
- Release our multiparty computation trusted setup protocol and register participants
- Release the formal specification for the AZTEC decentralized exchange and example smart contracts
- Release API tools to use the AZTEC decentralized exchange
Read the AZTEC paper here. The unique AZTEC commitment function enables the efficient construction and verification of range proofs. The protocol requires a trusted setup protocol, that generates a dataset that is required to construct AZTEC zero-knowledge proofs
Our proof of concept uses a trusted setup generated by our team internally. Whilst we would like to think you can trust us implicitly, we have developed a method of performing the trusted setup via multiparty computation. Each participant generates a piece of toxic waste that must be destroyed. Only one participant must destroy their toxic waste for the protocol to be secure and the trusted setup process can scale indefinitely. We will be releasing our full specification for the trusted setup protocol shortly.
The AZTEC protocol supports a stealth address protocol that can be used to obfuscate the link between a note 'owner' and any on-chain identity.
Anybody wishing to become early members of the AZTEC network please get in touch at hello@aztecprotocol.com