Aztec Network raises over $60 million in ETH with community-first token sale, testing new auction model
Privacy-focused Ethereum Layer 2 developer Aztec Network closed its public AZTEC token sale Saturday, collecting 19,476 ETH from more than 16,700 participants in what the project claims represents a shift away from insider-dominated token launches.The sale, which ran from December 2-6 using a novel Continuous Clearing Auction mechanism built with Uniswap Labs, raised approximately $61.3 million at current ether prices. Aztec said half of the capital came from its existing community, such as testnet operators, early users of its now-shuttered Aztec Connect product, and other ecosystem participants, rather than large institutional allocations.Aztec's token distribution eschewed the airdrop model that has become standard for Layer 2 launches in favor of what it described as a "fair-access" auction. The CCA mechanism started at a floor price corresponding to a $350 million fully diluted valuation, which Aztec said represented a 75% discount to the implied valuation from its equity financing rounds. Per-user caps of 240 ETH were instituted to limit whale concentration.Uniswap founder Hayden Adams praised the sale in a post on X. "No sniping, bundling, timing games," Adams wrote. "Just slow, fair price discovery ending at 59% above the floor — with literally days to bid earlier and get a better average price."A Uniswap v4 liquidity pool containing 273 million AZTEC tokens (roughly 2.6% of total supply) will also go live following the token generation event to bootstrap secondary market trading.AZTEC tokens purchased through the sale will remain non-transferable until at least February 11, 2026. Token holders can then initiate a governance vote to unlock transferability. If no vote passes, tokens will unlock linearly through November 2026. Validators wishing to stake must commit 200,000 AZTEC tokens.The a16z-backed project had raised $100 million in Series B funding in December 2022, with additional backing from Paradigm and Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin. The company has raised over $119 million in total funding, per The Block Pro's Funding Dashboard. Aztec launched its privacy-focused Ethereum Layer 2 network, Ignition Chain, in mid-November. Aztec called Ignition the "first fully decentralized L2 on Ethereum," which will power the firm's vision of a "private world computer."165 nodes are currently powering the network, according to the project's dashboard. The chain is currently producing blocks but does not yet process user transactions, a deliberate staging approach the team says will allow real economic stress-testing before full functionality launches in early 2026. Nearly 556 million AZTEC tokens have been staked. Disclaimer: The Block is an independent media outlet that delivers news, research, and data. As of November 2023, Foresight Ventures is a majority investor of The Block. Foresight Ventures invests in other companies in the crypto space. Crypto exchange Bitget is an anchor LP for Foresight Ventures. The Block continues to operate independently to deliver objective, impactful, and timely information about the crypto industry. Here are our current financial disclosures.© 2025 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.