# AZTEC CRS: The Biggest MPC Setup in History has Successfully Finished

> Reflect on the largest MPC setup in cryptographic history, a monumental achievement for Aztec's cryptographic infrastructure.

Canonical: https://aztec.network/blog/aztec-crs-the-biggest-mpc-setup-in-history-has-successfully-finished  
Type: Article  
Reviewed: 19 October 2026  
Publisher: Aztec Foundation

Published: 9 January 2020  
Category: Aztec Network

> **Historical article.** This post is about Aztec's 2019-2020 'Ignition' trusted-setup ceremony, which completed in January 2020. It is unrelated to the current Ignition network phase. For live network status, see https://aztec.network/roadmap

*Bringing Fast Privacy to Ethereum*

## The Ceremony

[AZTEC Protocol](/) is pleased to announce the conclusion of the largest MPC setup in history.

With participation from across the globe, the ceremony provides the ultimate proof of non-collusion, and therefore the integrity of the AZTEC CRS

Run over the BN-254 curve, the AZTEC CRS comprises 100 million points, and will underpin technologies powering both privacy and scaling on Ethereum and other infrastructures.

The AZTEC CRS is an open-source asset for the Web3.0 community. We invite you to [check its consistency](https://github.com/AztecProtocol/ignition-verification) for yourself.

### Participants

- [📝](https://emojipedia.org/memo/) **600 sign-ups**
- ✅ **202 participants** ran the software — of which **176 were valid**
- 🌎 Participants from **105 cities** across **41 countries**
- [🕵️](https://emojipedia.org/sleuth-or-spy/) **30 participants stayed incognito**
- ⚙ **2 implementations** of the MPC software
- 💼 Leaders from **6 major blue-chip financial / technology companies**
- ♢ Leaders from **2 major blockchain infrastructures**
- 🔒Leaders from **3 blockchain custody companies**

### Time Stats

- 🕑 The public phase of the ceremony ran for **32 days**
- ⌛ **Average compute time**was **3 hours 20 mins**
- ⚡ **Fastest compute time**was **Participant 105**from an undisclosed location in **13 mins 8 seconds**

### Prize for Dedication

This goes jointly to:

- **Vitalik Buterin**(Participant 0)for making his own Python implementation of the AZTEC MPC, and running it for two days
- **TQ Tezos** (in particular [Michael Klein](https://twitter.com/mjdklein) and [Jacob Arluck](https://twitter.com/jacobarluck)). Running the ceremony on an air-gapped computer, they went to exceptional lengths to [document the process](https://medium.com/tqtezos/preparing-for-aztec-ignition-662610c1801b), and destroyed their entropy in spectacular style:

https://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2FpACPPzbZbmM%3Ffeature%3Doembed&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DpACPPzbZbmM&image=https%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2FpACPPzbZbmM%2Fhqdefault.jpg&key=a19fcc184b9711e1b4764040d3dc5c07&type=text%2Fhtml&schema=youtube

### Top Cities

From the 105 cities that participated, 23 fielded more than one participant (30 participants did not disclose their whereabouts).

![The 23 cities fielding > 1 participant](/api/media/file/blog-a2ffbb458c-1-7ttgoqkjmahknxngryjjka-1400x877.webp)

### Top Countries

From the 41 countries that participated, 21 fielded more than one participant

![A map of all 41 participating countries, and a list of the 21 countries with > 1 participant](/api/media/file/blog-eb471d06ab-1-f6-jntrbpu64qvemyl-cka-1600x732.webp)

## What’s Next for AZTEC?

Confidential transactions on Ethereum are launching this month!

- ✅ 2 audits completed (Trail of Bits & ConsenSys Diligence)
- ✅ Ceremony finished
- ✅ Codex computation finished this week
- → Deploy to Mainnet January 2020

## Want Early Access?

We’re letting a limited number of dapps get access to API Keys for **Free AZTEC Transactions**, which you will be able to use on mainnet from this month (January 2020).

## Thanks to all our participants

By contributing to the ceremony, you have contributed to the security of an important open-source cryptographic asset, vital to the privacy and scaling of blockchain systems.

As a token of our appreciation we’ll be sending you a commemorative t shirt and will confirm shipping details with you this month.

![](/api/media/file/blog-d6fe0e56f2-1-ud6xy-dqtmvgoh9kedpovq-1400x910.webp)

## About AZTEC

AZTEC is a scaleable privacy network on Ethereum — we enable easy integration of privacy for developers, so you can get on and build your dapp whilst safeguarding your users’ important transaction data.

## Join the Team

We’re on the lookout for talented engineers and applied cryptographers. If joining our mission to bring scalable privacy to Ethereum excites you — get in touch with us at [hello@aztecprotocol.com](mailto:hello@aztecprotocol.com).

## Join our Community

- [Discord](https://discord.gg/FpEuyWr)
- [Telegram](https://t.me/aztecprotocol)
- [Twitter](https://twitter.com/aztecprotocol)

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Markdown representation of https://aztec.network/blog/aztec-crs-the-biggest-mpc-setup-in-history-has-successfully-finished. Published by Aztec Foundation.