<p><span class="relative -mx-px my-[-0.2rem] rounded px-px py-[0.2rem] transition-colors duration-100 ease-in-out">Aztec is a privacy-first Layer 2 (L2) solution on Ethereum, leveraging zero-knowledge proofs to enable confidential transactions and smart contract execution.</span> <span class="relative -mx-px my-[-0.2rem] rounded px-px py-[0.2rem] transition-colors duration-100 ease-in-out">It supports both private and public functions, allowing for composability between private/public execution and state.</span> <span class="relative -mx-px my-[-0.2rem] rounded px-px py-[0.2rem] transition-colors duration-100 ease-in-out">Aztec introduces a new alt-VM, distinct from the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), to facilitate its privacy features.</span> <span class="relative -mx-px my-[-0.2rem] rounded px-px py-[0.2rem] transition-colors duration-100 ease-in-out">Developers can utilize tools like Aztec.js and the Noir programming language to build privacy-preserving applications.</span></p>