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Aztec Community has raised $100 million in a Collection B spherical led by Andreessen Horowitz.Aztec co-founder Joe Andrews describes the platform as an encrypted model of Ethereum.The corporate additionally introduced Aztec Join as the primary software to be constructed on the community.
Aztec Community has closed a $100 million funding spherical led by Andreessen Horowitz (A16z). The web3 startup desires to carry encryption to the blockchain.
Disclosing the fundraising to TechCrunch, Aztec co-founder Zac Williamson stated that encryption is without doubt one of the lacking components to carry web3 to the mainstream, including that though there are just a few encrypted blockchains on the market, they’re extra like bitcoin.
Aztec Community is growing a programmable blockchain community, which Joe Andrews, additionally a co-founder on the firm, describes as “an encrypted model of Ethereum”. “Usually on Ethereum the whole lot is public, however we’re making it encrypted. That journey has taken us a few years to play out.”
The corporate additionally introduced Aztec Join as the primary ecosystem to be constructed on its community. In keeping with the Aztec web site, Aztec Join integrates with Ethereum Decentralised Finance (DeFi) protocols like Aave, Lido and Factor Finance. The corporate plans so as to add Compound Finance and 5 different protocols sooner or later.
Encrypted blockchains improve consumer privateness by authorising transactions with out revealing key particulars of the consumer. Just lately, blockchain builders have zeroed in on web3 identification options that utilise zero-knowledge proofs. Nonetheless, the know-how remains to be in its nascent state with Polygon and BNB Chain among the many early adopters.
“The world isn’t good to dwell in with out encryption,” Andrews stated. “Undergo your day and take into consideration what number of belongings you wouldn’t need individuals to see. Not all of it’s unhealthy; it’s simply your day by day life. However take into consideration how you’re taking that as a right. Doing issues with out privateness could be a reasonably scary world and never one we would like.”
Though Aztec didn’t disclose different buyers taking part within the Collection B spherical, the corporate stated the Silicon Valley-based enterprise agency was not the one investor.
“We selected [a16z] to steer the spherical as a result of they’ve been by means of this earlier than with the daybreak of the web,” Andrews stated. “It’s an analogous scenario to what we discover ourselves in; sure, totally different, however the identical drawback. Now we have this thrilling new know-how and alternative to rework the lives of everybody on the planet, however we’d like encryption to make it a actuality.”
Aztec plans to make use of the funds to double its crew of builders globally after rising from seven to 40 previously yr.
Aztec Community differentiates its encrypted blockchain from the likes of Zcash and Iron Fish Community, which additionally function in the identical section by making its community programmable. Because of this builders can simply construct privacy-focused apps on the community, which Andrews thinks might be the important thing to onboarding the mainstream onto web3.
“Including encryption to blockchain know-how may “spawn an entire wave of non-public client finance,” and much more, he stated.
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