Transfer: Transacting in Private

Once your tokens are shielded, you can send them to other ZeroLayer users with complete privacy. The Transfer operation is the core of the protocol, allowing for fully anonymous peer-to-peer transactions.

💰 No Protocol Fee: Private transfers are free—you only pay standard blockchain gas fees. Protocol fees only apply when unshielding (converting back to public tokens).

The Private Transfer Process

Sending a private transfer is a seamless experience that hides all critical details from the public eye.

1. Specify Recipient and Amount: In the ZeroLayer application, you enter the recipient's ZeroLayer privacy address (a pv1... address) and the amount you wish to send.
2. Generate Proof and Authorize: Your browser will then perform the cryptographic heavy lifting in the background. It will select the necessary private notes you own, create the output notes for the recipient (and change for yourself, if any), and generate a zero-knowledge proof for the entire operation.
3. Send the Transaction: You will be prompted to sign and send the final transaction. This transaction contains the proof and encrypted data, but no identifiable information.

What Happens Under the Hood

The magic of a ZeroLayer transfer lies in what is—and isn't—recorded on the blockchain.

1. Spending Old Notes: The zero-knowledge proof demonstrates that you are the legitimate owner of the input notes you are spending. To prevent double-spending, the proof also reveals a unique serial number (a "nullifier") for each spent note. The smart contract records these nullifiers to ensure they can never be used again.
2. Creating New Notes: The proof also validates the creation of new output notes—one for the recipient and one for your change. The commitments for these new notes are added to the contract's on-chain Merkle tree.
3. Stealth Addresses: The recipient's address is not recorded on-chain. Instead, the protocol uses a cryptographic technique called stealth addresses to create a one-time, unlinkable address for the recipient for this specific transaction.
4. End-to-End Encryption: The details of the new notes (amount and ownership) are encrypted. The recipient's note is encrypted using a shared secret that only you and the recipient can compute, while your change note is encrypted with your own key.

The final result is a blockchain transaction that is publicly verifiable but privately indecipherable. An outside observer can see that a valid transfer occurred, but they cannot know who sent the funds, who received them, or how much was transferred.