Nov 3, 2026 · 46 min
Aztec bets privacy can become Ethereum’s next security layer
The Race for Private Ethereum | Zac Williamson
The episode examines whether Ethereum can support private, compliant applications without centralized viewing keys or trusted backdoors.
- 1Aztec keeps the network private while letting applications build their own compliance and viewing permissions.
- 2Private infrastructure could make tokenized financial assets safer by keeping identity and compliance data encrypted on-chain.
- 3AI-driven attacks raise the stakes for protecting application data, credentials, and transaction details from increasingly capable adversaries.
Don't miss
Williamson explains how ZK Passport can verify a passport and facial match on a phone, then produce a credential applications query privately.
The brief
Zac Williamson frames Aztec’s mission as a race for private smart contracts: a decentralized alternative to privacy systems built around centralized actors, viewing keys, or trusted authorities.
The core design choice is programmable compliance: applications can decide who sees what, while the underlying network remains private and avoids protocol-level backdoors.
Tokenized mortgages, bonds, and stocks expose why optional privacy has struggled to spread; institutional assets require identity and compliance data without making it public.
ZK Passport turns a passport and facial match into a privately queryable credential, offering applications proof of attributes without exposing the underlying identity data.
With AI accelerating vulnerability discovery, Williamson argues that private blockchains can protect application data and user-controlled credentials better than public ledgers or centralized services.
Aztec’s roadmap pairs faster proving and confirmations with security work, withdrawals, and prover optimization as it moves from Web3 users toward institutions.
What was said on this episode
30 statements · 24 positive · 3 negative · 3 neutral
Aztec is the only privacy-preserving blockchain besides Zcash without backdoors.
“outside of Zcash, we're the only privacy preserving blockchain. that doesn't have backdoors in them.”
Listen at 1:24
Aztec uniquely supports genuine private smart contracts.
“We're the only ones where you can have genuine private smart contracts”
Listen at 1:39
Aztec is the only fully private smart-contract chain without trusted authorities.
“Yes, I'm willing to make that claim.”
Listen at 2:28
Aztec's currently live network is a Stage 2 rollup.
“The current version that's live now, it is stage two.”
Listen at 4:46
Aztec uniquely offers decentralized private composability.
“That facility doesn't exist anywhere else in a way that's remotely decentralized. But it does on Aztec.”
Listen at 7:12
- Zac Williamsonon crypto privacy adoptionPositive8:03
Crypto privacy can shift from mostly public to substantially private.
“I think we can make that flip.”
Listen at 8:03
- Zac Williamsonon privacy in cryptoPositive8:47
Privacy will prevail because it enables otherwise impossible applications.
“My thesis has always been that privacy is going to win because it enables products and applications that cannot exist without it.”
Listen at 8:47
- Zac Williamsonon traditional financeNeutral9:16
Most traditional finance will eventually require privacy.
“I would say it's the majority of TradFi eventually”
Listen at 9:16
- Zac Williamsonon privacy in cryptoPositive11:30
Privacy is necessary to restore composability and expand on-chain finance.
“I think privacy is the necessary ingredient to really solve this.”
Listen at 11:30
- Zac Williamsonon private on-chain credentialsPositive14:30
Private on-chain credentials are inevitable for preserving blockchain composability.
“this is the inevitable future if we want... to preserve a lot of the value adds that made blockchain successful in the first place.”
Listen at 14:30
- Zac Williamsonon ZK PassportPositive16:40
ZK Passport credentials can be reused and queried across Aztec applications.
“that can then become a credential inside an Aztec smart contract that can be repeatedly reused and queried by a whole ecosystem of applications.”
Listen at 16:40
- Zac Williamsonon trusted operator model of the internetNegative23:14
AI-driven attacks will undermine the internet's trusted-operator model.
“The whole trusted operator model of the internet is going to get destroyed.”
Listen at 23:14
Blockchains will help address AI-driven internet security threats.
“Blockchains are part of the solution here”
Listen at 23:32
- Zac Williamsonon Ethereum and SolanaNegative28:04
Sensitive proprietary data cannot safely be placed on Ethereum or Solana.
“You can't put that stuff on Ethereum. You can't put it on Solana”
Listen at 28:04
Aztec can support sensitive blockchain applications that public chains cannot.
“But it does compute on Aztec. And that's the difference.”
Listen at 28:15
Aztec can reduce application risk by avoiding custody of sensitive data.
“you can use a network like Aztec to de-risk your application and remove this thorny problem of potentially holding all of this data”
Listen at 29:30
- Zac Williamsonon publicly exposed dataPositive31:05
Reducing publicly exposed data improves security.
“the less data you're putting out there, the better, the safer you're going to be.”
Listen at 31:05
- Zac Williamsonon Aztec private derivativesPositive31:58
Aztec will offer private perpetuals and futures.
“we're going to have private perps, private futures”
Listen at 31:58
- Zac Williamsonon Aztec private stablecoinPositive33:06
Aztec will soon support a private stablecoin with private issuance and settlement.
“something that we're going to see in Aztec very soon, I'm pretty hopeful about, is a fully indulgenous private stablecoin with private issuance and settlement”
Listen at 33:06
Aztec will harden and simplify its network before targeting Wall Street.
“We want to focus a lot more on hardening our network and making it a lot more turnkey before we start going to Wall Street.”
Listen at 34:00
- Zac Williamsonon Aztec protocolPositive34:11
Aztec plans to formally verify all of its protocol.
“I want to formally verify everything.”
Listen at 34:11
- Zac Williamsonon formal verificationNegative35:37
Formal verification of blockchain systems is already urgent.
“Oh, it's already urgent.”
Listen at 35:37
- Zac Williamsonon Aztec tokenPositive36:39
The Aztec token powers gas, staking security, and governance.
“All activity requires Aztec for gas, and we get the network security through staking Aztec if you want to be a validator, and all the governance decisions go through Aztec.”
Listen at 36:39
- Zac Williamsonon Aztec privacy overheadPositive37:36
Aztec's privacy-related operating overhead will quickly approach zero.
“the additional overheads of serving privacy from a network operator perspective are basically going to trend down to zero very quickly.”
Listen at 37:36
Aztec can experience maximal extractable value.
“there can be MEV on Aztec”
Listen at 38:01
- Zac Williamsonon Aztec transaction provingNeutral38:44
Aztec transaction proving takes about five seconds in-browser or one second natively.
“that takes roughly five seconds in a web browser on my machine. It takes one second if I'm running a native app.”
Listen at 38:44
- Zac Williamsonon Aztec TiaraPositive41:24
Aztec Tiara has halved proving time.
“We have halved our proving time.”
Listen at 41:24
- Zac Williamsonon Aztec TiaraPositive41:45
Aztec Tiara's soft finality takes six to twelve seconds.
“That's now between 6 and 12 seconds, I believe.”
Listen at 41:45
- Zac Williamsonon Aztec hard finalityPositive43:11
Aztec plans to reduce hard finality from forty minutes to five minutes.
“We want to get down to five minutes”
Listen at 43:11
- Zac Williamsonon Aztec expedited withdrawalsPositive43:30
Aztec may offer expedited withdrawals for an additional ten or twenty cents.
“if I want a fast, immediate withdrawal, I can pay a little bit extra, like 10 or 20 cents”
Listen at 43:30
Statements are attributed to the speaker as said on the episode and reflect their view at the time, not PodLume's. They are not advice.
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