How Cloak works

Every private action in Cloak is authorized by a Groth16 zero-knowledge proof, generated in your browser in under 3 seconds — the chain verifies the proof, never the details. That is the only cryptography this page needs. Everything else is four flows: money in, two ways to move it, and money out.

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1. Shield

Shielding moves SOL, USDC, or USDT from your wallet into your private balance. Your wallet signs the transaction and the funds enter the shielded pool for that token — each token has its own pool. In return, your private balance holds UTXOs: encrypted private notes of value that only you hold.

• Minimum 0.01 SOL for SOL. No protocol minimum for USDC or USDT.
• No protocol fee on deposits.
• This is the only step where your wallet pays gas — normal Solana network costs, not a Cloak fee.

A chain-watcher sees exactly one thing: your wallet deposited into the pool. That is where the public trail ends.

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2. Private send

Send from your private balance to any Solana address or .sol domain. The recipient receives the exact amount you enter, at their address, as a normal balance. On-chain, the funds arrive from the Cloak pool — your wallet never appears as sender. Your wallet signs nothing and pays no gas; the transaction is submitted for you. Shielded pools are like sealed envelopes in a public mailbox: everyone sees mail, not what’s inside. The recipient sees a payment from the pool. A chain-watcher sees a withdrawal from the pool. Neither can link it back to your wallet. The fee is added on top of the entered amount and deducted from your private balance:

• SOL: 0.005 SOL fixed + 0.3%
• USDC/USDT: 0.3%, no fixed fee

Full breakdown in Fees. Don’t have the recipient’s address? Send a payment link instead — whoever holds it claims the funds to their own wallet.

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3. Private swap

Swap shielded SOL into any Jupiter-verified token — USDC, USDT, ZEC, and BONK by default, or search the full list. Cloak routes the swap through Jupiter for the best price. The output lands at the recipient address you choose as a normal public token balance; the link back to your funding wallet stays hidden.

• Input is SOL only, minimum 0.01 SOL.
• Fee: 0.005 SOL fixed + 0.3% of the SOL swapped. Jupiter’s price impact and slippage are separate from Cloak’s fee.

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4. Unshield

Unshielding is a private send with your own wallet address as the recipient — same mechanics, same fee. There is no separate withdraw screen in the app: enter your own address in Send, and the funds arrive from the pool with no on-chain link to the wallet that funded them. One honest caveat: once funds leave the pool, they are public again from that point on. Cloak hides the link between deposit and withdrawal; it does not hide what you do afterward.

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Getting the most privacy

Privacy strength grows with pool activity. Three habits make yours stronger:

• Activity is cover. Each token has its own pool, and the more deposits and withdrawals a pool sees, the harder correlation becomes — for everyone in it.
• Let time pass. Funds already shielded are more private than shield-and-send in one step: separating the deposit and the send in time makes correlation much harder for a chain-watcher.
• Avoid distinctive amounts. Withdrawing an unusual exact amount right after an identical deposit weakens your privacy. Common amounts and patience strengthen it.

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