The Race for Private Ethereum | Zac Williamson

Can Ethereum become private without giving anyone a master key? Aztec co-founder Zac Williamson joins David Hoffman to discuss the race to build private smart contracts, why transparent blockchains struggle with tokenized finance, and how ZK Passport could bring identity checks onchain without exposing personal data.

---
📣SPOTIFY PREMIUM RSS FEED | USE CODE: SPOTIFY24
https://bankless.cc/spotify-premium

---
BANKLESS SPONSOR TOOLS:

🛡️VIZOR | THE WALLET ZCASH DEVS USE
https://bankless.cc/vizor

🔓NEAR | TRADE CONFIDENTIALLY, GET 20% BACK
https://bankless.cc/near2026

🌍 RIPIO | LOCAL CURRENCIES, ONCHAIN
https://bankless.cc/ripio

🎯THE DEFI REPORT | ONCHAIN INSIGHTS
https://thedefireport.io/bankless

---
TIMESTAMPS

0:00 The Race for Private Ethereum
07:21 Why Crypto Still Isn't Private
15:01 ZK Passport and Private Identity
21:29 AI-Powered Attacks and Trustless Infrastructure
29:44 Private DeFi and Institutional Adoption
35:42 Aztec Tokenomics, MEV, and Transaction Costs
40:52 Aztec Tierra and the 2027 Roadmap
43:43 Getting Started With Aztec

---
RESOURCES

Zac Williamson
https://x.com/Zac_Aztec

Aztec Network
https://aztec.network

ZK.money
https://zk.money

---
Not financial or tax advice. See our investment disclosures here:
https://www.bankless.com/disclosures