Your first transaction

The best way to learn is to do one. We teach your first shielded transaction at meetups and campus workshops using testnet, so there's nothing to lose.

Why testnet first

Testnet is a practice version of Zcash. The coins have no value, so you can send, receive, and make mistakes with zero risk. Once you've done it on testnet, doing it for real feels obvious.

What a first transaction looks like

1. Open your wallet and find your Unified Address (the receive screen).
2. Share your address, as text or a QR code, with the person sending you ZEC.
3. They send. Within a short while, you'll see the amount arrive as a shielded balance.
4. Send some back. Paste their address, enter an amount, confirm. Notice that the details stay private.

That's it. A shielded payment, start to finish.

At a workshop

Our hosts bring a testnet faucet and walk the room through it together. You leave with:

• a working wallet on your own phone,
• a backed-up seed phrase,
• the muscle memory of sending and receiving privately.

Find a session near you, or host one for your friends or campus.

Doing it for real

When you move to mainnet (real ZEC), the steps are identical, just with real value. Go slow the first time, send a small amount, and confirm it arrived before doing more.

Questions? Ask in Telegram. We were all beginners once.