A shielded address is generated for a shielded transaction, where a payment is made using the blockchain network by keeping the related information private.
What Is a Shielded Address?
With the recent trends in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, there is more interest than ever in methods of performing secure transactions. This interest has led to an increased demand for alternative methods of making financial transactions that are both secure and anonymous. One such alternative method is known as a shielded transaction that uses a shielded address to make payments.
Zcash – The Best Implementation of Shielded Transactions
Zcash transactions are published on a public blockchain, but the sender, recipient, and amount of the transaction remain private. This is accomplished by using a zero-knowledge proof construction called zk-SNARK.
Benefits of Shielded Transaction
The reason for this is twofold:
1.) For some use cases, such as international payments, or purchases where you want to obscure your spending habits from others, it is beneficial to not tie your transactions together on the blockchain.
2.) Because Zcash transactions are not fully transparent, the amount of data that can be gathered from the blockchain is limited. This will make it more difficult for outside observers to determine how much total money is being put into specific use cases, like gambling sites.