Hey,
My name is Serj. I’m the founder of Citizen Web3. A self-hosted, bare-metal validator and infrastructure operation I’ve been running since 2020 as a project (and since 2022/3 as infrastructure) out of a private datacenter in the Atlantic. Physical servers we own. No AWS. No Google Cloud. Off-grid capable. We pay our own electricity bill.
Before I list what we’ve built for Aztec, I want to explain why we’re here at all.
Why Aztec
We didn’t come to Aztec because of the token. We came because of what the network is trying to do and because we had a 76-minute conversation with the person who invented the proof system it runs on.
In July 2025, we had Zac Williamson on the Citizen Web3 podcast. Zac is the co-founder of Aztec and co-inventor of PLONK the polynomial commitment scheme that underpins a significant chunk of modern ZK cryptography.
We talked about privacy as fairness, not just as a feature. About money as autonomy. About what decentralisation actually means when you trace it all the way down to the hardware layer. About why ZK proofs matter beyond the marketing.
-> Citizen Web3 Podcast: A Fairer World, Trust and Breakthrough Technology with Zac Williamson
That conversation made something clear: running privacy infrastructure on cloud providers who can terminate accounts, respond to government requests, and inspect traffic is a design contradiction. If the infrastructure layer isn’t sovereign, the privacy guarantee at the protocol level is weakened.
That’s the reason we run the way we do. And it’s the reason Aztec made sense.
What we’ve built
5 sequencer nodes — live, bare-metal
All five are self-hosted. No cloud. Verifiable on dashtec.xyz:
- 0x31d9d6b1e666db12a537f70740671d9fb3e7d6a5
- 0x082109fc2a4730ee2add9c3639fad5cba2c34abb
- 0xbc7118972b92169aaae190b2a6c4efb67fd9c3a7
- 0xe6eef9bad63817bd61524ab939495f5e2a6752a0
- 0x9d48e0cdd7c21a0c6203a280651253fcd9e68327
We are officially listed as Staking Provider #26:
→ stake.aztec.network/providers/26
Public RPC
Free for anyone to use:
→ rpc.aztec.citizenweb3.com
Seed node
For anyone bootstrapping a new node:
enr:-Ku4QJMw_QgqKUwBY93qM6TLjUfQr8-wpB_iBnHyXWAyP9ppOOLYlhfodGi9a9iFIVmgLmSJvf1xXNUHgHOzmSgESnMEhWF6dmVjoDAwLS0wMDAwMDAwMC0wLTEyZTlhYTM2LTIyOWVhZGI3gmlkgnY0gmlwhKh3JaSJc2VjcDI1NmsxoQKKS7HGYgedexQ4L5LH8ZZfJl6tMagw6dc3xlLxJqSMToN1ZHCCndE
Snapshots
State sync snapshots available for node operators who want to bootstrap quickly
without syncing from genesis. See our staking page: Non Custodial Staking with Citizen Web3 Validator
Chain data indexer
We built and operate a live Aztec chain data indexer, a queryable API layer over Aztec block data. Open-source. Token-protected for commercial access.
-> aztec.indexer.citizenweb3.com
→ GitHub - citizenweb3/chain-data-indexer at aztec · GitHub
This is the same indexer architecture we built for the Cosmos Hub (indexed from genesis block 1), AtomOne, and Namada. Not forked. Not rented. Built by our developer and running on our own hardware.
ValidatorInfo explorer
Aztec transactions are live and searchable on our network explorer:
→ Blockchain: Transaction Activity
ValidatorInfo is a tool, not just a block scanner. It includes a staking RAG (you can ask natural language questions about the network and get data-grounded answers), P2P chat, and a decentralised forum.
Cashback program
On top of native staking rewards, we run a cashback program for delegators:
2% monthly: delegate 200k+ AZTEC to CW3, hold 1+ month
Sent automatically in the first days of each month.
First snapshot: April 30. Harvest active.
The honest ask
We’re not the largest provider. We’re not backed by a fund. We’re an independent, self-hosted team that does the technical work because we believe the infrastructure layer matters.
If that alignment resonates, please delegate to Citizen Web3.
-> stake.aztec.network/providers/26
→ Non Custodial Staking with Citizen Web3 Validator
→ Questions: Telegram: Contact @citizenweb3
Happy to answer anything about the setup, the nodes, the indexer, or how any of this works.