Deep Dive
1. Complete Alpha Network Audits (Ongoing)
Overview: The network is currently in its Alpha phase, operating at 1 transaction per second (TPS) with ~6-second block times. The core team's confidence in network security is growing through continuous external audits and a planned bug bounty program. The transition to Beta requires that no critical bugs are disclosed via this bounty for a period of three months. Audits are ongoing across several components, with fixes packaged for future releases.
What this means: This is neutral for AZTEC as it represents necessary, procedural work. Successfully completing these audits without critical findings is a prerequisite for advancing to the more capable Beta network, which would be a positive catalyst for utility and developer confidence.
2. Transition to Beta Network (Mid-term)
Overview: The next major milestone is moving from Alpha to Beta. The criteria, as outlined by the Aztec team, include scaling the network to over 10 TPS, reducing block times, and ensuring 99.9% uptime (Aztec Network). This transition also depends on the successful completion of the 3-month bug bounty period mentioned above. State migrations across network releases may be required.
What this means: This is bullish for AZTEC because achieving Beta status would mark a significant step towards production readiness. Higher throughput and reliability are essential for attracting serious dApp development and user adoption, directly increasing the network's utility and potential fee demand for the token.
Overview: The long-term vision extends beyond the Beta criteria. The project aims to continue scaling transaction throughput and optimising performance to support widespread, mainstream use cases for private smart contracts. This involves ongoing improvements to the Aztec Virtual Machine (AVM), the proving system (like CHONK), and the decentralised sequencer and prover network.
What this means: This is bullish for AZTEC as it aligns with the project's ambition to be the leading privacy layer for Ethereum. Realising this vision would position AZTEC at the centre of a growing market for confidential DeFi and institutional-grade privacy, though it carries execution risk and depends on broader ecosystem adoption.
Conclusion
Aztec's roadmap is a disciplined march from a secure, audited Alpha to a scalable Beta, with a long-term goal of becoming Ethereum's primary privacy layer. The immediate focus is on validating security, which is a critical gatekeeper for future growth. How will the network's performance metrics evolve once the Beta criteria are met?