In today’s digital era, crypto currency has become one of the innovative forms of the global financial system. Crypto offers excellent features such as user privacy and anonymity. This is also the reason why cryptographic protocols like Zcash exist to provide a more secure and secure solution.
In this article, we will explore the concepts of Shielded Address and Shielded Transaction in the Zcash cryptographic protocol. These two features play a key role in maintaining user privacy and maintaining the confidentiality of transactions within the Zcash network.
What is Shielded Address?
Shielded Address is a crypto address in the ZEC ecosystem where we can send and receive ZEC anonymously. Yes, this address is specifically designed to hide the details of our transactions from the public eye. Starting from the sender’s address, recipient’s address, to the amount transferred cannot be known by the public.
This is possible because ZEC uses Zero-Knowledge Proofs. Zero-Knowledge Proofs is a cryptographic concept in which the verifier (party that verifies) can prove the statement of the prover (party that proves) without the need for detailed or detailed information. The logic is like this, for example, Ali wants to prove to Bobi that he knows a secret color that only Bobi knows. Well, Ali was able to prove information about this secret color without giving Bobi any clues that could help him identify the color.
Apart from shielded addresses, ZEC also has conventional addresses. Where our transactions can be tracked by the public specifically. Users can choose to use shielded or non-shielded addresses.
In general, Shielded Address can provide a number of benefits such as:
– This feature is able to maintain user privacy from the public eye.
– Make it difficult for other parties to track transactions or identify ZEC users.
– Can protect sensitive information such as account balance, sender address and recipient address.
– Shielded Address is also supported by a smart contract which makes the transactions carried out guaranteed safe.
Shielded Address, or what is often called Protected Address, is one of the main elements in the Zcash privacy system. The Protected Address serves as a unique address used to anonymously receive and send Zcash cryptocurrency.
Compared to the transparent addresses used in many cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Shielded Address hides the details and identity information of the sender and recipient of the transaction. Protected Address uses strong cryptographic technology to ensure that user transactions and balances remain private and untraceable to other parties.
Shielded Transaction
Shielded Transactions, or Shielded Transactions, are a type of crypto transaction made using a Shielded Address within the Zcash network. The main purpose of Shielded Transactions is to maintain the privacy and anonymity of users in their trading activities.
In a Shielded Transaction, transaction details such as amount transferred, sender, receiver, and transaction records, are all encrypted using advanced cryptographic technology. This ensures that sensitive information can only be accessed by authorized parties so as to properly maintain user privacy.
Security and Privacy Aspects in Shielded Address and Shielded Transaction
Dama maintains transaction security and user privacy through Shielded Address and Shielded Transactions, Zcash uses several aspects of security and privacy, such as:
A. Zero-Knowledge Proof Consensus
One of the key concepts underlying security and privacy in Shielded Addresses and Shielded Transactions is Zero-Knowledge Proof. Zero-Knowledge Proof is a cryptographic technique that allows users to prove the truth of a statement without having to disclose related information.
In the context of Zcash, Zero-Knowledge Proof is used to verify transactions involving Shielded Addresses. By using Zero-Knowledge Proof, users can prove that the transactions they made were legitimate without having to disclose specific details about the amount transferred or the identities of the sender and recipient.
B. Strong Encryption and Decryption
To maintain user privacy, Shielded Address and Shielded Transactions use strong encryption and decryption techniques. Sensitive information such as transferred amounts and user identities are encrypted using secure cryptographic algorithms. Only recipients who have the proper decryption key can read and access the information.
The encryption and decryption techniques used in Shielded Address and Shielded Transaction provide an additional layer of security that protects transactions and user identities from unwanted surveillance and monitoring.
C. User Anonymity
In protected transactions, user anonymity is a top priority, because this is useful for minimizing security breaches in transactions and data theft. So that Zcash users can send and receive cryptocurrency without revealing their real identities.
Even transaction details such as the amount transferred are also protected and can only be accessed by authorized parties.
Comparison with Conventional Addresses and Transactions
One of the main differences between Shielded Address and Transparent Address is the level of privacy offered. Transparent addresses, which are used in conventional cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, allow all transaction details to be open and visible to anyone on the blockchain.
On the other hand, Shielded Address hides user identification information and transaction details inside strong encryption. This provides a higher level of privacy and maintains the confidentiality of user transaction activities.
Advantages and disadvantages
The use of Shielded Transactions certainly has several advantages compared to conventional transactions.
First, user privacy is well maintained, because transaction details are protected and cannot be accessed by third parties. In addition, transaction security is enhanced through the use of strong cryptographic techniques.
However, there are some potential downsides to using Shielded Transactions. First, protected transactions require more computational resources compared to conventional transactions, as they involve complex encryption and decryption processes. In addition, because of the strong nature of privacy, there are certain laws and policies that may limit or regulate the use of protected transactions.
So, that’s the discussion about the Shielded Address and also the Shielded Transaction offered by Zcash. Both are important features provided to minimize the occurrence of financial crimes and data theft.
This feature, of course, makes Zcash users safe and free when making financial transactions. It’s just that these two features can be good opportunities to be used by certain elements to commit money laundering crimes. Because with transaction security and strong privacy, crimes such as money laundering are very difficult to trace.
Therefore, even though it offers very attractive features, the use of Shielded Addresses and Transactions on Zcash needs to be regulated in such a way as to prevent misuse by irresponsible parties.
