This marks the transition of Aztec from a deep-research project into a decentralized, community-owned privacy network. It is a key milestone required for Aztec to operate as a public good prior to our network launch early next year. Owned, steered, and sustained by the community that carried ZK from an academic niche into a cornerstone of ethereum. Over the past seven years, the ZK ecosystem collectively built the foundations this token now activates. PLONK, Noir, folding schemes, lookup arguments, private rollups - none of this was the sole achievement of one team. Our work has been shaped and strengthened by researchers, builders and orgs across the space. @zooko, @0xpolygon, @jbaylina, @zcash, @monero, @0xmiden, @aleo_HQ, @1HowardWu, @scroll_zkp, @bobbinth, @efbull, @feministplt, @zksync, @succinctfnd, @world, @succinctJT @recmo,@jensgroth16, @starknet, @elibensasson, @valardragon, @srinathtv,  @aisconnolly, @taceo_IO, @luhelminger, @zkpassport, @yush_g, @uhhaboeck, @o1labs, @kevaundray, @khovr, @secparam, @drakefjustin, @dankrad - this list is just a fragment of the thousands of people it took to get ZK technology into a place where something like Aztec is possible. $AZTEC will launch through an entirely onchain, community-driven sale with no hidden allocations, no preferential classes, and no off-chain negotiations. The participants, not us, set the clearing price. There are no airdrops, no pre-market backroom rounds. The goal is simple: a fair, transparent, public distribution so that $AZTEC becomes a token owned by the ecosystem, not the company. This launch sits on years of shipped work. Aztec 1.0, the first shielding protocol on Ethereum. Aztec Connect, the first private rollup; PLONK, the first universal SNARK; @NoirLang, a purpose-built language for private smart contracts. This is a huge milestone for us but it is also just one more step in a marathon. Our goal as an institution is not to launch a token, it’s to launch a fully decentralised, Private World Computer. Onwards, together.