After waiting for 7 years, Aztec has finally moved. Its return as a privacy-focused project is certainly attracting attention, but the current token sale plan is sparking quite a bit of debate in the market.

Last month, Aztec officially announced the issuance of its own token, AZTEC. The genesis supply is 10.35 billion tokens. 27.26% are allocated to investors, 21.06% to the team, 11.71% to the foundation, and the remaining 21.96% are targeted for the token sale. The sale method will adopt Uniswap's new feature, "Continuous Settlement Auctions," aiming for transparent price discovery.

However, there are many issues. First, there will be no airdrop. Long-term users who have supported the network for 7 years are expressing dissatisfaction. Next is the FDV valuation. The initial market cap is set at $350 million, roughly a 75% discount compared to the latest funding round, but the community criticizes that "it doesn't match the project's track record."

The lock-up periods are also strict. Both the Genesis Sequential Sale and the public auction impose a 12-month lock-up. In the current bearish market environment, participant risk becomes quite significant. Additionally, KYC requirements and NFT issuance are mandatory, which contradicts the privacy-centric stance and has sparked another round of debate.

Why such a cautious design? The background lies in Aztec's turbulent history. Since its launch in 2018, it has focused on building privacy solutions on Ethereum, raising over $119 million from major VCs like Paradigm, a16z, and Coinbase Ventures. However, after the Tornado Cash sanctions in 2022, regulatory risks for privacy-related projects surged. In March 2023, Aztec shut down its flagship service, "Aztec Connect," shifting development to Zero-Knowledge language "Noir" and next-generation blockchains. This decision caused a significant market shock.

TVL dropped from its peak of $21 million to a low of $4 million. Market enthusiasm had completely cooled.

However, a turning point came in the privacy sector. In November last year, a U.S. court ruled that sanctions against Tornado Cash were illegal. By March this year, Tornado Cash was removed from the sanctions list. This illegal ruling opened new opportunities for privacy projects. Aztec seized this chance, announcing the establishment of a foundation in February this year. After launching a public testnet, over 30 new applications were developed within just four weeks, and more than 17,000 node connections were established.

With privacy coins like Zcash gaining attention, Aztec's token launch is well-timed. However, considering the uncertain market environment, whether it can sustain long-term ecosystem development after short-term liquidity gains remains uncertain. The current price is $0.02, with an FDV of about $250 million. The revival of the privacy sector seems poised to determine Aztec's success.