Aztec Labs launches Nyx privacy wallet on upgraded Aztec Network. The self-custodial privacy wallet returns after a three-year hiatus, rebuilt on upgraded zero-knowledge infrastructure that cuts costs in half an hour ago Sponsored: Vera - AI-powered prediction market intelligence, built for serious analysts Explore Vera Aztec Labs has brought back zk.money, the privacy-focused wallet it killed off in 2023, this time running on a significantly upgraded version of its zero-knowledge Layer 2 network. The new wallet, called Nyx, is a self-custodial privacy tool with yield-earning capabilities. It launched alongside the Aztec Network's Alpha V5 upgrade, which went live in July 2026 and brought major performance gains: private transaction proving speed improved by more than 2x, while costs dropped roughly 50%. Why Aztec killed zk.money in the first place. The original zk.money and its companion product, Aztec Connect, were shut down in March 2023. Deposits were halted on March 21 of that year, though withdrawal support continued until approximately March 2024 to let users retrieve their funds. The team's reasoning was strategic: the existing infrastructure relied on centralized sequencers, which created a trust bottleneck that undermined the whole point of building privacy tools. Instead of patching a fundamentally compromised architecture, Aztec Labs chose to redirect all resources toward building a fully decentralized privacy platform from the ground up, developing client-side zero-knowledge proofs and centering the rebuild on Noir, a programming language Aztec created specifically for writing ZK circuits. What the Alpha V5 upgrade actually changes. The Alpha V5 upgrade is the technical foundation that made the zk.money relaunch possible. The headline numbers, 2x faster proving and 50% cheaper transactions, matter because they directly address the two biggest complaints users have historically had with ZK-based privacy: it's slow and it's expensive. V5 supports end-to-end private execution directly on user devices. When you make a transaction through Nyx, the proof that your transaction is valid gets generated on your phone or laptop. No intermediary server ever sees your transaction details. The network only verifies the mathematical proof, not the underlying data. The news moving money, markets, and the world - before your day starts. Daily. Free. Join 34,000+ readers across crypto, finance, and policy. Nyx was the first application built on V5, serving as both a product launch and a proof of concept. The wallet's yield-earning features suggest Aztec is targeting users who want to participate in DeFi without broadcasting their portfolio to the world. The AZTEC token and network decentralization. The relaunch comes with a broader decentralization push anchored by the $AZTEC token, which provides governance rights and staking opportunities. The token sale concluded in December 2025, raising between $59 million and $61 million. More than 17,000 bidders participated in the sale, and 96% of them contributed less than $10,000. Aztec Network is currently on the second stage of decentralization, with community-operated nodes and sequencers being rolled out for user-facing applications. What this means for Ethereum's privacy landscape. Future development plans include private smart contract capabilities on Ethereum, which would allow entire DeFi protocols to operate with transaction privacy baked in. Cross-chain privacy integrations are also on the roadmap, which could let users move assets privately across different blockchain networks. Disclosure: This article was edited by Estefano Gomez. For more information on how Cryptobriefing create and review content, see its Editorial Policy.

Aztec Labs, the team behind Ethereum's programmable privacy Layer 2, has acquired Obsidion and committed to keeping the ZKPassport protocol and its iOS application open-source. ZKPassport uses zero-knowledge proofs to verify user identity through government-issued IDs without exposing sensitive data. The protocol addresses Sybil attacks by confirming users are real individuals whilst preserving privacy. It has been integrated into Aztec's testnet since June 2025 and was used during the project's November 2025 token sale, which raised approximately $59–61 million at an initial fully diluted valuation of around $350 million. Obsidion operates as a wallet for private payments on Aztec's network. The acquisition consolidates Aztec's identity and payment infrastructure, creating a more vertically integrated stack for privacy-preserving blockchain applications.

Aztec Labs acquires ZKPassport maker Obsidion as age verification pressure mounts. Blockchain privacy company Aztec Labs Ltd. announced today that it has acquired Obsidion Labs Ltd., the British startup behind zero-knowledge identity protocol ZKPassport. The deal comes as governments in the U.K., Australia and parts of the U.S. move to force online platforms to verify user ages without giving them a workable way to do it. Terms were not disclosed. ZKPassport lets a user prove a single attribute, age, nationality or sanctions status, by reading the near-field communication chip inside their passport or national ID card. Nothing leaves the phone. The platform receiving the proof learns only what it asked, not the underlying document data and the protocol covers IDs from more than 130 countries. The model cuts against how most identity verification works today, which is to ship a scan of someone's passport to a third-party vendor and hope it stays there. It usually doesn't. The Identity Theft Resource Center counted 780 data compromises in the first quarter of 2026 alone, exposing personal information belonging to almost 140 million people. "The Obsidion team has built something rare: a privacy product that meets real-world verification requirements without exposing user data," said Aztec Labs Chief Executive Joe Andrews. "Proving attributes without revealing personal data is what verification infrastructure should look like everywhere, especially with the growing desire from governments to implement age verification standards online." Obsidion co-founders Michael Elliot and Theo Madzou will join Aztec Labs along with the rest of the team. They will continue developing ZKPassport while leading new consumer product initiatives within the studio. "Every identity verification system built today requires users to surrender personal data to a centralized service and trust that it will never be misused or breached," Elliot said. "That model has failed repeatedly and regulatory frameworks are forcing the industry to find a better answer. ZKPassport solves this by letting users prove only what's required, without exposing the underlying personal data." Aztec Labs said it will continue to maintain the ZKPassport protocol and iOS mobile app as open-source projects and will build additional tools to make integration easier for outside developers. ZKPassport proofs can be verified in-browser and server-side for non-blockchain use cases or on the Aztec Network, Ethereum or any Ethereum Virtual Machine-compatible chain. The company, which was spun out of the team that built the Aztec Network, a Layer 2 blockchain on Ethereum that handles transactions privately, has raised $125 million. That included a $100 million Series B round in December 2022 that was led by a16z crypto and Paradigm. Image: ZKPassport. A message from John Furrier, co-founder of SiliconANGLE: Support its mission to keep content open and free by engaging with theCUBE community. Join theCUBE's Alumni Trust Network, where technology leaders connect, share intelligence and create opportunities. * 15M+ viewers of theCUBE videos, powering conversations across AI, cloud, cybersecurity and more * 11.4k+ theCUBE alumni - Connect with more than 11,400 tech and business leaders shaping the future through a unique trusted-based network. About SiliconANGLE Media SiliconANGLE Media is a recognized leader in digital media innovation, uniting breakthrough technology, strategic insights and real-time audience engagement. As the parent company of SiliconANGLE, theCUBE Network, theCUBE Research, CUBE365, theCUBE AI and theCUBE SuperStudios - with flagship locations in Silicon Valley and the New York Stock Exchange - SiliconANGLE Media operates at the intersection of media, technology and AI. Founded by tech visionaries John Furrier and Dave Vellante, SiliconANGLE Media has built a dynamic ecosystem of industry-leading digital media brands that reach 15+ million elite tech professionals. Its new proprietary theCUBE AI Video Cloud is breaking ground in audience interaction, leveraging theCUBEai.com neural network to help technology companies make data-driven decisions and stay at the forefront of industry conversations.