Many token launches claim to have “locked” allocations for insiders — but in reality, these locks are often nothing more than pinky promises not to transfer tokens. In some cases, the restrictions are enforced entirely off-chain, which is why insider trading via OTC deals often happens long before the token is officially liquid.
In true Aztec spirit, we wanted a better, trustless, and transparent approach. That’s why we built the Token Vault contracts — a system designed to set a new standard for how blockchain projects manage token lockups.
Every participant in the Ignition sale will receive their AZTEC tokens directly in Token Vault contracts. So it’s worth understanding what these vaults are and how they work.
Introduction to Aztec Token Vaults
The Beneficiary Account
Each Token Vault is owned by a beneficiary — an Ethereum Mainnet address that has exclusive control over the vault.
The beneficiary can perform various functions, the most important being claiming tokens once they unlock.
The beneficiary address is immutable and cannot be changed once the vault is deployed.
The Lock Terms
Different Token Vaults can have different lockup terms depending on your track:
1. Genesis Sequencers
Locked for 12 months with no ability to withdraw AZTEC tokens before the 12 months period has elapsed. Genesis sequencers must stake in order to be able to eventually withdraw their tokens.
2. Auction Sale Participants
Locked for a period of 12 months. After a minimum of 90 days, the Aztec Governance can enable AZTEC withdrawals for the auction sale participants via a governance vote.
Auction sale participants who purchased 200,000 tokens or more must stake in order to be able to eventually withdraw their tokens. Those with less than 200,000 tokens won’t be required to stake in order to enable withdrawals.
The Operator Account
The beneficiary can pick a special address called the operator to handle all staking and governance operations on behalf of the beneficiary. The operator and beneficiary addresses can be the same.
Setting Up Your Aztec Token Vault
In order to participate in governance and staking, the beneficiary. should perform the following actions on the Staking Dashboard.
1. Upgrade the Staker contract
The Staker contract sits in the middle of the ATP and the Aztec Rollup and Governance contracts.
2. Approve Staker to use the ATPs AZTEC tokens
In the case of staking, the Staker contract will need to move AZTEC tokens from the ATP into the Rollup. To do so, the beneficiary must approve the Staker contract an ERC20 allowance - 200,000 AZTEC tokens per one stake() call.
For each sequencer you intend to run, you must approve the Staker contract a 200,000 AZTEC ERC20 allowance.
3. Pick the operator address
The operator address is the only account capable of interacting with the Staker contract. The operator address is chosen by the beneficiary and can be the same account as the beneficiary. The operator address may be updated by the beneficiary at any time.
⚠️ Note: For sale participants who bought 200,000 or more tokens, the operator address will be able to call the claim() function which will be on the Staker contract and not on the ATP itself.