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Level 06 · Your First Shielded Transaction

Privacy is better when you understand it.

A step-by-step walkthrough of receiving, checking, reviewing and sending a shielded payment, with fictional screens and no wallet connection.

9 min3-question checkpointReviewed November 2026

Three hooded figures around candles in a forest at dusk. Caption: you simply 404 ready.
404 saysYou simply 404 ready. Nothing on this page sends anything, so practise all you like.

BeginnerStart here. No prior knowledge needed.

This chapter walks through the concepts. It is not a live tool: nothing here connects to a wallet or sends anything. The screens are fictional and won’t match your wallet exactly, because every app labels things a little differently.

The core idea: for the strongest privacy, funds should arrive shielded, stay shielded while you hold them, and go to a recipient who can receive shielded.

Try it

Step through a simulated shielded payment. Each step explains what’s happening and what becomes public.

simulation://shielded-paymentIllustrative example

Step 1 of 7

Receive ZEC

Share your receiving address. Many current wallets show a unified address (starting u1) that includes a shielded receiver. If someone pays you from a shielded wallet, it arrives shielded.

Becomes public

Depends on the sender. A shielded sender reveals nothing about the payment. A transparent sender reveals their address and the amount going in.

ExploreOptional. Open what you’re curious about.

Fees and limitationsZcash protocol fact

Zcash uses a proportional fee rule (ZIP 317) based on how many “logical actions” a transaction contains, so more complex transactions pay more. Your wallet works out the fee. We don’t quote amounts because they can change.

  • Some exchanges only support transparent deposits or withdrawals.
  • Light wallets need to sync with the chain, which can take a while after a restore or a long break.
  • Encrypted memos only work when the recipient is shielded.
  • Some exchanges use special transparent-only address formats (TEX addresses, starting tex1) that expect funds from a transparent source. Up-to-date wallets handle or warn about this.
Habits that helpSafety guidance

Keep funds shielded rather than moving them back and forth. Avoid shielding an amount and deshielding the same amount soon after. Don’t reuse a transparent address if you can avoid it. Don’t post transaction IDs or screenshots that tie a payment to you.

When something looks wrongSafety guidance

Crypto payments generally can’t be reversed, so double-check before you send. If a balance shows as pending or syncing, wait before trying again. Never ask for help in DMs. Real support teams don’t message first, and they never need your recovery phrase.

Real-world context

What success looks like

After a shielded-to-shielded payment, a block explorer shows that a transaction happened, when it was mined and the fee it paid. It doesn’t show who sent it, who received it, the amount or the memo. That’s the whole idea, and now you know exactly where its edges are.

Key takeaways

  1. Strongest privacy: receive shielded, hold shielded, and send to a shielded recipient.
  2. Check the recipient’s address type before sending. Unified or Sapling addresses can receive shielded, and transparent ones can’t.
  3. Your wallet calculates the fee, and more complex transactions cost more.
  4. Even fully shielded transactions reveal that a transaction happened, when it happened and its fee.

Knowledge checkpoint · Level 06

Check what stuck

0 / 3 correct

  1. 01You’re about to send ZEC to an address starting with t1. What does that mean?

  2. 02Your wallet shows a transparent balance from an exchange withdrawal. What’s a common next step for privacy?

  3. 03Who sets the fee for your transaction?

Deep dive

Learning resources

Checked against these sources · reviewed November 2026