$AZTEC Lands on Coinbase, Kraken, and Beyond

The $AZTEC token goes live tomorrow, February 12, 2026, at 7:00 UTC, marking one of the most anticipated Token Generation Events (TGE) in recent memory. Confirmed Day 1 listings include Coinbase, Kraken, Bybit, KuCoin, Gate, MEXC, LBank, and a Uniswap V4 DEX pool. That kind of multi-exchange access on launch day is rare, and it signals serious institutional confidence in what Aztec Network has been building: Ethereum's first fully decentralized, privacy-preserving Layer 2.

But the listings are only half the story. The real buzz sits underneath: a battle-tested mainnet, an onchain token sale that raised nearly $61 million without bots or backroom deals, and a privacy narrative that keeps gaining steam.

What Is Aztec Network Building?

Aztec is a zero-knowledge (ZK) Layer 2 on Ethereum built around one idea: programmable privacy. Most blockchains expose everything. Every wallet balance, every transaction, every interaction sits in the open. Aztec flips that by letting users and developers choose what stays private.

The network uses PLONK, a ZK proof system Aztec's own co-founder Zac Williamson helped invent, to verify transactions without revealing the data behind them. Developers write smart contracts in Noir, Aztec's purpose-built privacy language, and can build apps with flexible privacy levels. Think private lending protocols, confidential voting systems, or shielded DEX trades.

Several projects already building on the network give a preview. Azguard is a private browser wallet. Nemi is a private DEX. ZKPassport handles selective identity verification. These aren't theoretical concepts sitting in a whitepaper.

The network runs on decentralized sequencing from day one, meaning no single entity controls block production. Blocks are produced by a global network of sequencers, stakers, and provers. That's a direct contrast to most L2s, which still rely on centralized sequencers.

How Did the Token Sale Work?

This is where it gets interesting. Aztec skipped the airdrop playbook entirely and ran the entire public sale onchain through Uniswap's Cumulative Contribution Auction (CCA) mechanism in early December 2025.

The numbers speak for themselves:

• 19,476 ETH raised (roughly $59 to $61 million depending on ETH price)
• 16,741 participants, with ~50% of capital from community members
• Per-user caps of 240 ETH to limit whale concentration
• Bids cleared ~30% above floor price, implying an FDV around $411 million

Uniswap founder Hayden Adams praised the format publicly, calling out the lack of sniping, bundling, or timing games that typically plague token launches.

All tokens were locked in personal Ethereum smart contracts until TGE. Team and investor tokens lock for one year, then vest over two more. That alignment of incentives matters when evaluating long-term conviction versus quick flips.

What Happens at TGE?

The governance process already cleared. Sequencer signaling required 600 out of 1,000 validators. The community vote on January 26 needed 66% approval from at least 100 million $AZTEC tokens. It passed.

When TGE triggers tomorrow, several things will happen simultaneously. Token transfers activate. The AZTEC/ETH Uniswap V4 pool goes live, seeded with 273 million $AZTEC tokens representing over $21 million in initial liquidity. Sequencer rewards become transferable.

One detail worth noting: voters who participated in the governance process face a 15-day withdrawal lock. Non-voters can access tokens immediately at TGE.

Which Exchanges Are Listing $AZTEC?

The confirmed Day 1 lineup is stacked: Coinbase, Bybit, Kraken, KuCoin, Gate, MEXC, LBank, and the native Uniswap DEX pool. That's eight venues at launch.

Binance has already rolled out 5x perpetual futures for $AZTEC, which typically signals a spot listing is on the table. OKX, Upbit, Cryptodotcom, Bithumb, Bitget, Bitpanda, and HTX are also in the "potential soon" category.

Early price estimates from the auction math put the initial price around $0.0338, roughly a $350 million FDV. Pre-market futures on some platforms have traded lower, around $0.019. Prediction markets show 24% to 34% odds of a listing price between $0.0676 and $0.1014, which would squeeze short positions.

How Does the Network Stack Up?

Aztec's mainnet, called Ignition Chain, launched in November 2025 after testnet went live in May of the same year. The testnet operated 120 nodes across multiple continents and processed over 70,000 blocks.

Since mainnet launch, the stats are solid:

• Zero downtime since November 2025 launch
• Over 90,000 blocks produced with 99%+ attestation rate
• 186 operators and 3,700+ active sequencers (recently crossed 4,500)
• Fully permissionless with no foundation involvement
• Survived Ethereum's Fusaka upgrade and a governance throughput adjustment

Solo staking is accessible with modest hardware: an 8-core CPU, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD, and 25 Mbps bandwidth. Anyone holding 200,000+ $AZTEC tokens can run a sequencer or delegate their stake. Block rewards split 70/30 between sequencers and provers, distributed every epoch of 32 blocks.

Why Does the Privacy Angle Matter Now?

Privacy in crypto has had a rough few years. But with courts ruling the Tornado Cash sanctions illegal and their removal in early 2025, the regulatory wind shifted.

Institutions won't touch DeFi if every trade, balance, and counterparty is publicly visible. RWA tokenization needs confidentiality layers to function at scale. Private lending, compliant identity verification, and shielded corporate treasury management all require what Aztec provides.

The project has raised over $217 million combined across funding rounds and its public sale, with backers including a16z, Paradigm, Consensys, Coinbase Ventures, and Vitalik Buterin.

What Should You Watch For?

Tomorrow's TGE will be the first real price discovery event for $AZTEC. The gap between pre-market futures pricing and auction-implied valuations creates volatility in both directions. Multi-exchange liquidity from day one should help, but the early hours will be wild.

Longer term, the question is whether Aztec can attract developers and users to build on its privacy stack. The tech is there. The decentralization is there. The backers are there. Now it needs the ecosystem to follow.

For more information, visit aztec.network or follow @aztecnetwork on X.

Sources:

• Aztec Network — Official website with network stats, staking details, and TGE documentation
• The Block — Coverage of the $61M community-first token sale and CCA mechanism details
• CoinMarketCap — Reporting on sale results, staking requirements, and Ignition Chain launch
• TechCrunch — $100M Series B funding round details led by a16z
• CoinGecko — Token data including supply, FDV, and investor information
• ICO Drops — TGE event tracking and token distribution details
• Aztec Blog: Announcing Ignition — Mainnet launch details and network architecture
• Aztec Blog: TGE Vote — Governance vote process and TGE execution timeline