Privacy Pools to deploy on Aztec, bringing Ethereum assets to private apps

0xbow announced today that it will deploy Privacy Pools on Aztec. Privacy Pools users can currently hold, move and earn yield on assets privately on Ethereum, but their utility in the pool is limited.. The deployment on Aztec extends the functionality of private Ethereum assets beyond the pool: they will be able to bridge privately from Ethereum into Aztec apps and DeFi where activity, identity and balances stay private. A balance shielded on Ethereum could be lent, traded or spent on Aztec without the holder exposing it along the way.

Privacy Pools on Aztec also unlocks massive value for builders. Developers will be able to add Ethereum assets to the private apps they build on Aztec, so teams working on payments, trading and DeFi start with assets people already hold. Aztec and Privacy Pools are highly aligned in bringing compliant privacy to users without holding any kind of special viewing keys or backdoors.

"Privacy shouldn't depend on permission, and that includes the route an asset takes onto the network," said Zac Williamson, Co-founder & CEO of the Aztec Foundation. "Privacy Pools showed that screening and privacy can coexist without anyone holding a key to the user's funds. Aztec takes the same position and we're excited to see the apps that are unlocked with more permissionless, private and compliant Ethereum assets."

Permissionless, compliant privacy

Privacy Pools is 0xbow's protocol for compliant, private transactions on Ethereum. You deposit into a shared pool, and an Association Set Provider run by 0xbow screens the deposit. Once the provider approves it, you can send, swap and earn yield inside the pool. A transfer reveals no sender, recipient or amount.

For someone on Ethereum, that changes what holding assets onchain means. Your balance and payment history stop being readable by anyone who knows your address, and you get that without leaving Ethereum. Because 0xbow's provider screens deposits on the way in, that privacy comes with compliance rather than in place of it.

Underneath that sits one rule: no global viewing keys and no backdoors. You hold your own keys and you can exit at any time. You also choose what to disclose, through receipts and viewing keys, and who gets to see it.

However, Privacy Pools on Ethereum is currently limited to what can happen inside the pool itself. You can privately send, swap and earn yield, but for anything else users need to move back to transparent transactions.

“We've been big fans of Aztec from day 1. Privacy Pools and Aztec are aligned in our vision and philosophy; this partnership takes that one step further and we're excited to bring our protocols together,” said Ameen Soleimani, Co-founder of Privacy Pools. “We look forward to building together and strengthening the Aztec ecosystem with unstoppable private money.”

Shielded assets get more to do

On Aztec, a private interaction stays private across an entire chain of contract calls. A balance could pass through a loan, a trade or a payment, composed across several contracts, without publishing the amount or the counterparty at each step.

With the integration, assets shielded through Privacy Pools will become usable inside those contracts. The parts of an app that deal with who holds what, who pays whom and how much run as private functions on the user's device. Whatever the app needs in the open stays in public functions.

Getting there from Ethereum is also quicker on the current network. With the recent Aztec Tierra release, client-side proofs take as little as 1 second on a native device, a 2x speedup over the previous network. Ethereum-to-Aztec message delivery dropped from an average of 2 minutes to as low as 12 seconds.

What this unlocks for builders

Deploying a contract on Aztec is permissionless. Sequencing is decentralized in the base protocol across more than 3,000 validators, so no operator decides which apps go live or who can use them. With Privacy Pools on Aztec, the same will hold for apps built around Ethereum assets. You will be able to write a lending market, an exchange or a payment app that keeps balances and counterparties private, using assets people already hold on Ethereum. Because contracts on Aztec compose, another team can build on yours without asking you either.

Compliance doesn't add a gatekeeper to that picture. On Ethereum today, 0xbow's Association Set Provider screens deposits at the pool, and holders can share proof of a single payment or their full account history with a third party they choose. Disclosure stays in the holder's hands and no operator gets a view into your app, which fits the model Aztec apps are built on: private with selective disclosure at the app or user level.

Next steps

Privacy Pools is currently exploring the design and scope of the implementation. 0xbow and Aztec contributors will publish technical details and scope, and updates will follow as the work takes shape.

Follow Privacy Pools and Aztec on X for updates

About Privacy Pools

Privacy Pools is a protocol built by 0xbow that lets users shield assets and withdraw them with no onchain link to the deposit, using zero-knowledge proofs of membership in an approved set of deposits. Learn more atprivacypools.com.

About Aztec

Aztec is the leading platform for unstoppable private apps. A decentralized Ethereum Layer 2 combining fully programmable privacy with decentralized infrastructure, Aztec enables developers to build freely and users to transact, interact, and participate without surrendering their privacy. Learn more ataztec.network.