Privacy continues pushing full steam ahead. With new funding, high-stakes court cases, and technical milestones, our industry is recommitting to onchain privacy as a first principle. One of the longest-running efforts is Aztec, which just launched its "Adversarial Testnet" — a permissionless trial ahead of its upcoming mainnet. Here’s why Aztec is still leading Ethereum’s privacy frontier.👇 ~~ Analysis by @davewardonline ~~ What is Aztec? @aztecnetwork is a privacy-first Ethereum Layer 2 that supports both public and private smart contract functions, letting privacy be a choice. It uses a dual execution model: private smart contracts run client-side, inside your browser; public ones run on Aztec’s decentralized node network. Both execution types interoperate through zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs), connecting private and public computation. Unlike most L2s, Aztec isn’t EVM-compatible. Instead, it uses its own language, Noir, built for zero-knowledge proofs. Why not Solidity? Aztec claims the EVM’s transparent state makes real privacy impossible without security tradeoffs. Noir hides ZK complexity and offers a Rust-like syntax that doesn’t require deep cryptographic expertise. The Private Execution Environment (PXE) The PXE (pronounced "pixie") is Aztec’s client-side privacy engine — a local library that runs in your browser. It’s part wallet, part scanner, part proof generator. It stores secrets, detects private assets, and builds the proofs that enable private transactions. ➢ Manages secrets — Stores private keys, decrypted notes, and metadata locally. Handles multiple accounts and address books. ...