Is the network unstoppable?
Check who produces blocks, who can admit or remove operators, and whether anyone can halt, reset, or censor the chain. A public base chain and its privacy service may have different answers.
Compare
How privacy-focused networks compare.
Whether the network can be stopped, whether anyone can read your data, what a contract can keep private, and who can take part.
Who controls your privacy?
It depends on more than what is hidden.
Is there a privacy backdoor?
Check whether an operator, a validator group, a co-signer, or a key holder can read private data now or decrypt it later, and whether the application rules add a backdoor of their own.
Do they have private smart contracts?
Check whether builders can write contracts with private state and private logic alongside public logic, or are limited to a particular payment or token design.
Who can build and participate?
Deploying an application and operating infrastructure are different permissions. Check the requirements for each role.
Seven approaches, side by side.
| Company | Unstoppable network | Privacy backdoor | Private smart contracts | Participation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aztec | No one can stop it | No backdoor | Private + public contracts | Permissionless to use, build, and operate |
| NEAR | Permissioned privacy shard | Shard validators and a TEE | Intents, not contracts | Permissionless to use |
| Starknet | Permissioned sequencing | Audit key held by a company | Public contracts, private pool | Permissionless to use |
| Miden | Invite-only, Miden-run | Validators hold the keys | Private accounts and notes | Permissionless to use |
| Zcash | No one can stop it | No backdoor | Payments only | Permissionless to use and operate |
| Zama | Operators can pause it | Threshold decryption | Encrypted types in Solidity | Permissionless to use |
| Tempo | Whitelisted validators | Zone operator reads everything | Public Solidity, private ledgers | Permissioned to use |
The detail, with sources.
What each network does well, its documentation, and the date it was last checked.
Aztec vs NEAR
A sharded proof-of-stake Layer 1
Aztec vs Starknet
A validity rollup on Ethereum
Aztec vs Miden
A client-side-proving rollup, spun out of Polygon
Aztec vs Zcash
A proof-of-work Layer 1 for private money
Aztec vs Zama
An FHE confidentiality layer for public EVM chains
Aztec vs Tempo
A payments-first Layer 1, incubated by Stripe and Paradigm