Aztec Launches Alpha V5 on Mainnet With Faster Private Proving

Aztec Network, an Ethereum Layer 2 built for private smart contracts, said on Tuesday that its Alpha V5 release is live on mainnet, calling it “the fastest private transactions we’ve ever shipped.”

The company said Alpha V5 proves a fully private transaction in about 2.5 seconds on a laptop and cuts transaction fees to under $0.05. Aztec’s Alpha V5 page frames those figures as improvements over the prior version, describing the proving time as “~2.5 seconds on a consumer laptop, down 2x from V4” and the sub-$0.05 fee as 50% cheaper for a fully private token transfer. The metrics are self-reported by Aztec and have not been independently benchmarked.

Proving speed is central to Aztec’s design because proofs are generated on a user’s own device rather than handed to a server that would see the transaction. The page says the release “resolves the critical V4 issues” and points to testing by “234+ researchers” through the Cantina bug bounty.

The launch follows Aztec’s alpha network and its public testnet, moving the performance and cost claims from earlier stages onto mainnet.

Aztec said usable apps begin rolling out this week, starting with Nyx, a wallet that connects an existing Ethereum wallet for private transfers on Ethereum and private yield on the lending protocol Aave. Nyx is normally invite-only; Aztec said access is open to everyone for 24 hours.

Aztec has not published a reproducible benchmark for the proving-time or fee figures, and the number of live apps beyond Nyx remains unspecified. In a reply within the announcement thread, the account said “more apps are rolling out VERY soon.”