Skip to main content

Glossary

Barretenberg​

Aztec's cryptography back-end. Refer to the graphic at the top of this page to see how it fits in the Aztec architecture.

Sequencer​

This service is responsible for:

  • Watching for rollup blocks on Ethereum and updating the representation of Aztec state accordingly
  • Listening for and storing transactions from users, verifying they're valid, have correct fees, etc.
  • Constructing new rollups at the appropriate time or when enough transactions are received
  • Publishing of rollups to an Ethereum chain

You can find the Typescript reference implementation called Falafel here.

Refer to the graphic at the top of this page to see how it fits in the Aztec architecture.

Smart Contract​

Programs that run on the Aztec network are called smart contracts, similar to programs that run on Ethereum.

Smart contracts on Aztec may also optionally include private state and private functions.