Aztec Network just flipped the switch on Alpha V5, and the upgrade delivers client-side proving — a system that lets ordinary devices like smartphones and laptops handle the computation-heavy zero-knowledge proofs needed to keep transactions private.

What V5 actually changes

Private transaction proving speeds are more than 2x faster compared to the previous V4 version. Costs for fully private transactions dropped by approximately 50%.

Both improvements stem from a new system called Chonk, which optimizes how ZK proofs are computed on consumer hardware.

Governance approved the upgrade in late June 2026, following a withdrawal deadline for V4 users set around June 25, 2026. The deadline was tied to security enhancements required before the migration, ensuring that user funds were properly handled during the transition.

The road to V5

The public testnet launched in May 2025, and the team has maintained a roughly two-month upgrade cadence since then. V5 addresses critical issues from earlier iterations while introducing the network’s first live applications on the upgraded protocol.

Aztec raised $100 million in a Series B round led by a16z, positioning it as the first decentralized privacy-preserving Layer 2 on Ethereum. Aztec’s architecture settles transactions to Ethereum’s Layer 1 while maintaining encryption throughout the execution process.

Why developers should pay attention

The upgrade enables hybrid public-private smart contracts. Developers can build applications where some state is public and some is encrypted, mixing transparency and confidentiality within a single contract.

The fact that V5 is still in alpha means the network isn’t ready for production-scale deployment. But the proving speed improvements and cost reductions lower the barrier for developers who want to experiment with privacy-preserving applications.