Overview
- Aztec flipped the switch on V5 alpha on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, enabling a client-side zero-knowledge execution engine that runs private contract code on phones and laptops and submits proofs for on-chain verification.
- The upgrade uses a hybrid state model that keeps private assets in UTXO-like note trees and public data in key-value trees so confidential logic can trigger deferred public calls without causing race conditions.
- A new proving subsystem called Chonk reportedly more than doubles proving speed and cuts costs for fully private transactions by about half on consumer hardware.
- Aztec emphasizes V5 is an alpha release meant for developer experimentation and not for production use, and the team warns users to avoid moving critical funds onto it yet.
- The launch follows recent corporate moves and checks: a reported $100 million Series B led by a16z, the May acquisition of ZKPassport for private identity tools, and active investigations into transfers from deprecated legacy contracts that the project says do not affect the live network or the AZTEC token.