Aztec Finally Launches a Token
Olivia Capozzalo & Denis Omelchenko
February 13, 2026
Happy Friday, Defiers!
Today’s big story:
- After raising millions from VCs, privacy-focused Ethereum L2 Aztec finally launched its token yesterday, and early investors are down double digits.
In other news:
- Aave Labs unveils DAO alignment proposal
- Optimism announces official ZK partner
- Espresso launches ESP token
- Rocket Pool’s Saturn One Upgrade [SPONSORED]
Read more below! But first, please give our sponsors some love; they make this newsletter possible.
Stellar: The Proving Ground for Real-World Privacy
The latest Stellar upgrade, X-Ray, delivers zero-knowledge cryptography that lets developers build privacy into their apps—protecting what matters while keeping Stellar radically open, trusted, and ready for real-world finance.
We’re back! Here’s what you need to know in web3 today
📈 Markets in the Past 24 Hours
| TICKER | VALUE | 24H | |
|---|---|---|---|
 | Bitcoin | $68,863 | 4.53 % |
 | Ethereum | $2,054.79 | 7.41 % |
 | XRP | $1.41 | 4.66 % |
 | BNB | $614.78 | 1.42 % |
 | Solana | $84.02 | 7.16 % |
Today’s Big Story
Aztec TGE Underwhelms, Despite Initial Rally
Aztec Network, a nearly ten-year-old Ethereum startup building a privacy-focused Layer 2, finally released its AZTEC token yesterday, Feb. 12, and the market response was, perhaps predictably, a bit rough.
Despite the fact that AZTEC is actually trading almost 50% higher than its debut price just 24 hours after its token generation event (TGE), it’s still well below the token’s public sale price.
Aztec 24-hour price chart. Source: CoinGecko
Per CoinGecko data, the token started trading around $0.02 and has rallied to just below $0.03, making its fully diluted valuation (FDV) just over $308 million at the time of writing — still over 20% below the level implied by the token sale back in November.
The underwhelming launch landed harder because Aztec isn’t a new name. The project has been in development since 2017 and raised a total of $117 million in multiple funding rounds along the way, with backing from VC powerhouses a16z crypto and Paradigm, among others.
Public Sale
That backdrop set high expectations for Aztec’s public sale last November, which ran on Uniswap’s on-chain auction and distributed about 15% of the total AZTEC supply.
According to Uniswap data, the sale drew roughly 17,000 participants, raised 19,476 ETH — around $60 million at the time — and cleared at an average FDV of about $400 million. It delivered transparent price discovery — technically — but that doesn’t mean the token would land softly in what by all appearances is a bear market.
Structurally, the post-TGE dynamic wasn’t a classic insider dump, however. Aztec assured traders in a blog post on Jan. 22 that the team and investors “cannot participate in staking or governance for 12 months, which includes the TGE governance proposal,” with full unlocks stretching to three years.
The public sale itself appears to have set expectations that the market quickly reset. That happened even as the team emphasized that “over 60% of the tokens sold in the sale are staked, even without fractional or liquid staking.”
Not everyone bothered to sugarcoat it, though. Simon Dedic, founder of Moonrock Capital, described the launch in an X post on Feb. 12 as “incredibly underwhelming,” framing it as another example of bloated VC valuations.
Aztec’s camp pushed back with the familiar long-term argument. In an post the day before the TGE, co-founder Zac Williamson defended the project’s decision to launch the token in current markets, saying the treasury is funded, insider locks are in place, a large share of supply is staked, and the project’s privacy tech — not short-term price action — remains its main value prop.
Denis, staff reporter at The Defiant
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🎬WATCH
Robinhood’s Crypto Head Johann Kerbrat on Why Public Blockchains Will Win
In this episode of The Defiant Podcast, Cami sits down with Robinhood’s head of crypto, Johann Kerbrat, to discuss the strategic move to build on Ethereum. He believes institutions can get the privacy and compliance guarantees they need on public chains like Ethereum, so building on private chains doesn’t make sense as they are just a “fancy database.”
Watch the full interview:
Top News in the Past 24 Hours
Aave Labs Proposes New DAO Value Accrual and Growth Framework
Aave Labs has formally submitted a new strategic framework proposal to the DAO called “Aave Will Win,” which intends to align the DAO and Labs over the future growth of Aave v4, and to direct 100% of product-layer value directly to the DAO.
Why it matters: The move comes just two months after the Aave DAO and Aave Labs clashed on the DeFi platform’s governance forum.
Optimism Taps Succinct to Enable Instant Withdrawals
Ethereum Layer 2 Optimism is partnering with Succinct as its first zero-knowledge proving provider, enabling instant and real-time withdrawals from the L2.
Why it matters: The move means users can off-ramp capital from Optimism to any other chain in a timely fashion, as opposed to the bridge’s traditional, multi-day wait time.
Espresso Token Launches at $275 Million Valuation
Espresso, a decentralized rollup base layer, launched its native ESP token yesterday at a valuation of roughly $275 million, following its token airdrop and distribution.
Why it matters: FDV has fallen to $217 million by today, leaving early investors with a roughly 40% loss.
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