**Deck:** On-chain governance eliminated administrative management over Aztec’s rollup contracts, freezing the code in place and clearing technical hurdles for L2Beat’s prime decentralization layer.
Privateness-focused Ethereum Layer 2 Azteca stated it has reached Stage 2 with L2Beat, the best decentralization ranking assigned by Rollup Tracker. This milestone adopted an on-chain governance motion that revoked possession of the rollup contract.
Aztec introduced the modifications Monday afternoon at X. Revoking possession makes the contract code immutable, prevents directors from overriding the protocol, and maintains an escape hatch for customers to flee at any time, the community stated. These three properties map on to the situations that L2Beat units on the highest layer.
Code is frozen in place
Stage 2 of L2Beat is the final rung of the maturity ladder and is reserved for rollups which can be absolutely managed by good contracts reasonably than privileged operators. This framework requires an immutable contract that can’t be overridden by directors, a permissionless proof system, and an exit window that permits customers to withdraw their funds in the event that they object to the improve. L2Beat’s challenge web page lists Aztec in Stage 2.
Most rollups begin with what L2Beat calls coaching wheels: a multisig or safety council that may pause the chain or push upgrades. Stage 2 removes that backstop. As a result of possession has been revoked, the Aztec rollup contract can not be modified by the deployer. Escape hatch is a assure on the person aspect that permits holders to withdraw to Ethereum even when the community operator stops cooperating.
Privateness recommendations
Aztec described itself as the one decentralized L2 with protocol-specific privateness. The community runs Ethereum Layer 2, with transaction privateness constructed into the bottom layer reasonably than added by particular person functions and backed by zero-knowledge proofs, cryptographic shortcuts that enable one aspect to show {that a} assertion is true with out revealing the underlying information.
The Stage 2 designation comes months after Aztec’s mainnet went dwell and weeks after one other incident occurred with its deprecated infrastructure. The long-terminated contract from the community’s earlier product, Aztec Join, ran out about $2.1 million earlier this month, three years after the system was shut down. The present rollup is a separate codebase.
Aztec Labs, the staff behind this protocol, continues to construct out its privateness stack. We acquired ZKPassport to construct privacy-protecting id verification into our community. L2Beat individually tracks one other challenge beneath the Aztec banner, the deprecated Aztec Join, at a decrease stage.

