Aleo: an overview of a new crypto legend
What is Aleo?
Aleo is the first platform to offer fully private applications. Aleo leverages decentralized systems and zero-knowledge cryptography to provide users with unbounded computing with absolute privacy. By architecting a blockchain that is private-by-default, open-source, and built for the web, Aleo is uniquely positioned to address the shortcomings of blockchain adoption. With Aleo, users have access to a world of genuinely personalized web services without giving up control of their private data.
Details
Total Funding Amount: 228,000,000 USD
Investors: 19 (the latest round was led by Kora Management LP and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with participation from Tiger Global, Sea Capital, Samsung Next, Slow Ventures, and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z))
Project industry: Blockchain Infrastructure
Product Type: Platform
Founded: Reno, Nevada, United States
Registration year: 2019
Office Address: 548 Market St, Ste 16696, San Francisco, CA, 94104–5401
Employees: 11–50
Founders: Howard Wu (Co-Founder), Collin Chin (Co-founder), Raymond Chu (Co-Founder)
Goal and tools of Aleo
Aleo’s goal is to provide an end-to-end pipeline for developers to write, run, and deploy private applications seamlessly, using the complete set of tools for programmable zero-knowledge, enumerated below:
1. Leo — To write private applications on Aleo intuitively and efficiently, Aleo has developed a programming language called Leo. Leo looks and feels just like a traditional programming language. Yet under the hood, Leo is far more complex. Leo abstracts low-level cryptographic concepts and makes it easy to integrate private applications into your stack. Leo introduces a high-level syntax that makes it easy to write and intuitive to express logic in zero-knowledge. The Leo language was influenced by traditional programming languages like JavaScript, Scala, and Rust, with a strong emphasis on readability and ease of use. Under the hood, Leo converts a developer’s high-level code into zero-knowledge circuits.
2. Aleo Studio — To jumpstart the development cycle, Aleo has built Aleo Studio, the first IDE for writing zero-knowledge applications. Aleo Studio is an interactive development environment for writing zero-knowledge applications in Leo. For developers, Aleo Studio is designed to simplify the development cycle and make it easy to publish your Leo project as a package to the ecosystem.
3. Aleo Package Manager — To make it simple to bundle and share your work, Aleo has built a package manager for Leo. Aleo Package Manager is the first package manager for zero-knowledge circuits. It includes collaborative features like teams and organizations to make it easy to work with friends and colleagues on private applications. In addition, Aleo Package Manager is integrated with Aleo Studio, making it easy to import and publish new packages without having to leave the editor.
4. snarkOS — Aleo runs on a decentralized operating system for private applications called snarkOS. It forms the logical backbone for state transitions and enables applications to verify and store states on the Aleo blockchain in a publicly verifiable manner. snarkOS enforces data availability guarantees on Aleo for all programs and transactions. Moreover, the consensus mechanism ensures verifiers compute zero-knowledge proofs to checkpoint state on-chain.
These tools will enable developers to build the next generation of smart contracts. Aleo can express powerful Defi primitives like stablecoins or decentralized exchanges. Yet all transactions are totally private, putting the developer and user in control.
Aleo Team
Aleo has a very strong team.
Howard Wu (Co-Founder from 2019) — graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a Master of Science — MS, Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences (2018). Also, he is working as Managing Partner at Dekrypt Capital and Advisor at Berkeley. Worked as Software Engineer at Google.
Raymond Chu (Co-Founder from 2019) — graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, Bachelor’s degree, Computer Science (2015–2019). Worked as Security Consultant at Argus, Software Project Manager at Berkeley, and Software Engineering Intern at Amazon and IBM.
Collin Chin (Co-founder from Jan 2020) — graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, specialty “Electrical Engineering and Computer Science” (2015–2018). Currently developing the Leo Language for Aleo in Rust. Previously at Consensys, Gnosis, Blockchain at Berkeley.
Also at Aleo Alex Pruden (Chief Operating Officer), Heather Vasquez (Chief Of Staff), Michael Beller (COO & CFO), Jules De Smit (Protocol Engineer), Anthony DiPrinzio (Ecosystem Growth), Eduardo Morais (Cryptographic engineer senior), Sina Kian (VP of Strategy), Damon Sicore (Vice President Of Engineering), Max Bruce (Software Engineer), Edward Minnix (Compiler Engineer), Nse Barna (Executive Assistant — COO & VP of Eng), Rikke Rasmussen (VP of Design & Product), Elijah Lord (Rust Developer), Genc Beqiri (Product Designer), Fabiano P. (Director of IT), Elizabeth Chevalier (Director of Administration & Executive Assistant — CFO), Jonathan Pavlik (Compiler Engineer) is working.
Aleo Funding
As web applications demand greater scalability, privacy, and auditability, the team at Aleo is doubling down on an ecosystem of decentralized applications powered by zero-knowledge cryptography.
Aleo has raised $200 million (USD) in the largest funding round ever for a zero-knowledge company.
The latest round was led by Kora Management LP and SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with participation from Tiger Global, Sea Capital, Samsung Next, Slow Ventures, and Andreessen Horowitz (a16z).
The Aleo team has raised $200 million in a Series B funding round that values the company at $1.45 billion.
So, definitely, Aleo is fast-evolving and decentralizing.
Aleo Social Activities
Aleo invites everyone to build a strong community, aiming at bringing together like-minded people who are headed for the same goal. The team runs the Ambassadorship programs. The purpose of the Ambassadors Program is to bring together people from all over the world who are passionate about Aleo and want to support the project by driving adoption, raising awareness, and strengthening the community.
Aleo is well-positioned as one of the few large-scale zero-knowledge native blockchains. The company has the ability to attract developers and users to its innovative new ecosystem. Aleo’s permissionless, open-source network promises to provide a secure foundation for the next generation of decentralized applications that are both private and scalable.