# Aleo network by Aleo

Canonical page: https://technooptimist.io/crypto/aleo-mainnet
Frontier: [Crypto](https://technooptimist.io/crypto.md) · Field: Privacy chains · Company: [Aleo](https://technooptimist.io/companies/aleo.md)
Stage: Deploy (4 of 5: Research → Proto → Pilot → Deploy → Scaling)
Updated: last update 2026-07-21, facts checked 2026-10-11
Goal: Give businesses and people the privacy of a bank account on a public blockchain, so salaries, supplier payments and trades can settle on-chain without exposing every amount and counterparty to the world.
Status: Mainnet since Sept 2024; private stablecoins USDCx (Circle) and USAD (Paxos Labs) live in 2026.

## Milestones

| Status | Milestone | Date | Slip |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Done | $200M Series B at $1.45B valuation | Feb 2022 |   |
| Done | Mainnet launches | 18 Sep 2024 |   |
| Done | Circle's USDCx on Aleo testnet | Dec 2025 |   |
| Done | Toku launches private stablecoin payroll | Jan 2026 |   |
| Done | Paxos Labs' USAD stablecoin live on mainnet | 11 Feb 2026 |   |

## Most important updates

- **21 Jul 2026**: Aleo details private payroll on USAD: Toku pays salaries in stablecoins with amounts hidden on-chain. Toku, which has processed over $1B of token payroll, launched fully private stablecoin payroll on USAD in January 2026. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/aleo-details-private-payroll-on-usad-toku-pays-salaries-in-stablecoins-260b02f1.md) · [original source](https://aleo.org/post/usad-case-study/))
- **11 Feb 2026**: Paxos Labs launches USAD, a privacy-preserving dollar stablecoin, on Aleo mainnet. USAD runs on Paxos' issuance infrastructure and targets payroll, business payments and DeFi that are hard to run on fully transparent chains. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/paxos-labs-launches-usad-a-privacy-preserving-dollar-stablecoin-on-aleo-e4deafcb.md) · [original source](https://www.theblock.co/post/389101/privacy-preserving-usad-stablecoin-launches-aleo-layer-1-mainnet-paxos-partnership))
- **18 Sep 2024**: Aleo mainnet goes live: a programmable blockchain with private state, after four testnets. Aleo launched its layer-1 network combining zero-knowledge proofs with public and private state. ([our story](https://technooptimist.io/stories/aleo-mainnet-goes-live-a-programmable-blockchain-with-private-state-4bfd1ba6.md) · [original source](https://aleo.org/post/announcing-aleo-mainnet/))

## Current obstacles

- **Small payment volumes**: Private dollar payments are live but still niche; Aleo's value depends on payroll and business payments growing.
- **Compliance by design**: Each private stablecoin must satisfy issuers' and regulators' oversight needs through selective disclosure rather than public data.

## Physics limits

- **Proofs cost more than plain execution**: Generating a zero-knowledge proof takes far more computation than just running a program, which adds latency and cost to every private transaction.
- **Privacy needs a crowd**: Encryption hides details, but timing, amounts and how people move money in and out can still link users when few others transact.

## How it works

### Prove: Run the program, send a proof

A wallet executes the transaction itself and submits a zero-knowledge proof plus encrypted outputs, so validators never see amounts or parties.

### Records: Public and private state

Each app chooses which data is public and which stays encrypted, so an app can hide balances while publishing what it chooses.

### Consensus: AleoBFT proof of stake

Validators staking at least 1M credits order blocks with a DAG-based BFT protocol from the Narwhal/Bullshark family.

### Provers: GPUs paid to prove

Separate provers solve proof-of-succinct-work puzzles and share block rewards in proportion to valid solutions.

## Spec sheet

| Spec | Aleo network | Provenance |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Credits at mainnet launch | 1.5B | reported |
| Minimum validator stake | 1M credits | reported |
| GPUs proving at launch | >100,000 | reported |
| Apps deployed at launch | 350 | reported |

Provenance: reported = stated by the company; estimated = our estimate; sample = a sample figure.

## About Aleo

Aleo is a blockchain where transactions are private by default: programs run on the user's device and the chain only checks a zero-knowledge proof. Circle's USDCx and Paxos Labs' USAD give it private dollar payments.

- Mainnet live since Sept 18, 2024, after a $200M Series B in 2022 at a $1.45B valuation.
- Hosts two private, compliance-aware dollar stablecoins: Circle's USDCx and Paxos Labs' USAD.
- Toku launched private stablecoin payroll on Aleo in Jan 2026.

- Headquarters: US
- Status: private
- Raised: $200M
- Last round: Series B $200M, Feb 2022, led by Kora Management, SoftBank Vision Fund 2
- Website: https://aleo.org
- People: Howard Wu (Founder; co-author of the Zexe paper); Leena Im (COO)
- Partners, customers, investors: Circle (partner); Paxos Labs (partner); Toku (customer)

Company page: https://technooptimist.io/companies/aleo.md

## Related programs

Everything in Crypto: https://technooptimist.io/crypto.md

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