Shielded vs transparent

The single most important thing to understand about Zcash: some payments are visible to everyone, and some are visible only to you and the person you paid.

Who can see a payment?

Both kinds are real Zcash. The difference is what the rest of the world can see. A shielded payment is verified by the network using a zero-knowledge proof: the math confirms it's legitimate without exposing the details.

Unified Addresses (UA)

Older wallets made you juggle separate address types. Modern wallets give you one Unified Address that:

• can receive from anyone,
• prefers the shielded pool automatically,
• future-proofs you across network upgrades.

When someone asks for your Zcash address, you just share your UA. The wallet handles the rest.

A simple rule of thumb

• Want privacy? Keep funds in the shielded pool and send shielded-to-shielded. This is the default in Zashi and Zingo.
• Interacting with an exchange or a transparent-only service? That step may be transparent. Move back to shielded afterwards.

Why this matters for you

If you're a freelancer receiving cross-border payments, a student, or a merchant, shielded payments mean your balance and your counterparties aren't broadcast to the whole world. That's covered in Why privacy matters in India.

For the cryptographic details, see ZecHub.

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