What Is Aleo?

Aleo is a layer-1 blockchain that uses zero-knowledge proofs to make privacy the default for applications and transactions. Computation happens off-chain inside zkSNARKs and only succinct proofs are posted on-chain, so amounts, function inputs, and contract state can remain confidential while the network still verifies correctness. Aleo aims to enable a class of applications, identity, finance, gaming, AI, where private state is a first-class requirement.

Overview - Table of Contents
What Is Aleo?
Getting Started With Aleo
How To Get An Aleo Wallet?
Aleo Resources
How To Buy Aleo?
Latest Aleo News

Aleo was founded in 2019 by Howard Wu, Michael Beller, Collin Chin, and Raymond Chu, several of whom have backgrounds in cryptography research and academia. The project raised significant venture funding from a16z, SoftBank, and others to develop both the protocol and the developer tools. The Aleo mainnet launched in September 2024 after several years of incentivized testnet rounds.

Technically, Aleo separates execution and verification. Developers write applications in Leo, a Rust-inspired high-level language designed for writing ZK circuits, or directly in Aleo Instructions, the lower-level intermediate representation. Transactions are executed locally on the user's machine and produce a succinct proof. The Aleo network validates these proofs and posts only the public outputs and the proof on-chain. Sensitive inputs and intermediate state never leave the user's device unless they choose to reveal them.

Consensus is AleoBFT, a hybrid proof-of-stake protocol combining validator-based consensus with a prover marketplace. Validators stake ALEO and produce blocks, while provers generate the zero-knowledge proofs required for blocks and earn rewards in ALEO. Proving is no longer permissionless and free: since the snarkOS v4.0.0 upgrade in July 2025, ARC-0046 requires provers to stake a minimum of 100,000 ALEO for each solution they submit per epoch, an amount that escalates quarterly toward roughly 2.5 million credits per solution over two years. The two-sided design distributes work between validators that maintain state and provers that supply the heavy SNARK computation.

ALEO is the native token of the network. It is used to pay transaction fees, stake with validators, delegate, and reward provers. Rather than a fixed hard cap, ALEO uses perpetual emissions with a declining inflation rate: validators earn a constant block reward, and inflation starts around 12 percent in the first year, falls to roughly 2 percent by year 10, and approaches zero over time. Circulating supply grows to about 2.6 billion over 10 years and roughly doubles in about 21 years. Validators and provers play different but complementary roles in distributing tokens to the active network participants.

The Aleo developer experience centers on Leo and the SnarkOS / SnarkVM stack. Developers write programs in Leo, compile them to Aleo Instructions, and deploy them to the chain. Wallets and apps interact with deployed programs by generating proofs locally; transitions between program states are recorded on-chain as proofs. Aleo also supports public records and operations for cases where transparency is desired, alongside the private-by-default mode.

The ecosystem includes wallets such as Leo Wallet and Puzzle Wallet, identity and credential systems exploring private KYC and proof of personhood, private DeFi prototypes, and tooling that lets developers ship zk applications without writing low-level cryptography.

Getting Started With Aleo

To start using Aleo:

Step 1: Install an Aleo wallet such as Leo Wallet or Puzzle Wallet.
Step 2: Acquire ALEO on a supported exchange and withdraw to your Aleo address.
Step 3: Use your wallet to interact with Aleo dApps. Transactions generate proofs locally, so the wallet handles the heavy cryptographic lifting in the background.
Step 4: To build on Aleo, install the Leo compiler and follow the developer documentation to deploy zero-knowledge applications.

How to Get an Aleo Wallet?

Several wallets support ALEO and Aleo programs:

Leo Wallet

Leo Wallet is a popular non-custodial Aleo wallet available as a browser extension and mobile app. It supports private and public ALEO transactions and interactions with Aleo programs.

Puzzle Wallet

Puzzle Wallet is an Aleo wallet with a focus on dApp interactions and developer tooling. It supports staking, dApp connections, and private record management.

Hardware Wallet Support

Hardware wallet integration on Aleo is still evolving compared with older networks. Users seeking maximum security can rely on cold-stored seed phrases for Leo Wallet or Puzzle Wallet on dedicated devices.

Aleo Resources

How to Buy Aleo?

ALEO is listed on a growing number of exchanges since mainnet launch:

Centralized Exchanges

ALEO trades on exchanges including Coinbase, Kraken, Gate, and MEXC, among others. Availability and pairs vary by venue and region; ALEO is a smaller-cap asset, so liquidity is thinner than for larger tokens. Common pairs include ALEO/USDT and ALEO/USD.

Decentralized Exchanges

Native Aleo DEX activity is still maturing as the ecosystem grows. Wrapped ALEO is available on some Ethereum DEXs via bridges. For most users, centralized exchanges remain the easiest place to acquire ALEO.

After buying, ALEO can be delegated to validators through your wallet to earn staking rewards, or used to pay fees for private transactions on the network.

Latest Aleo News

Aleo has repositioned around private stablecoin payments. USDCx, described by the project as the first private stablecoin on Aleo, is live on mainnet and is backed 1:1 by USDC locked in a Circle-managed xReserve smart contract on Ethereum. A second encrypted stablecoin, USAD, is also live on mainnet. The project now leads its messaging with private, dollar-denominated payments rather than general-purpose private applications.

On the protocol side, snarkOS v4.0.0 shipped in July 2025 as the largest upgrade since mainnet. It introduced encrypted sender information that recipients can decrypt with their view key for compliance purposes, a versioning system for evolving regulatory requirements, ARC-0046 prover staking, and roughly 500 percent faster transaction confirmations. The September 2024 mainnet launch remains the project's foundational milestone, having moved Aleo from incentivized testnets into live operation. Follow the Aleo blog and developer channels for protocol upgrades and ecosystem launches.