Glossary

Anonymity set

The group of people you could be mistaken for. The larger it is, the better you are hidden.

Note

A private record of value inside a pool that only its owner can spend.

Commitment

The sealed fingerprint of a note that a pool stores in public. It shows the note exists without showing what it holds or whose it is.

Nullifier

A marker published when a note is spent, so the same note cannot be spent twice, without revealing which note it was.

Relayer

A service that sends your transaction and pays its fee for you, in return for a small cut. Railgun calls them broadcasters.

Shielded

Held or sent inside a privacy pool, where the parties and amounts are hidden.

Transparent

Visible on the public ledger, like an ordinary payment. Zcash uses the word for its public addresses.

Zero-knowledge proof

A proof that a statement is true which reveals nothing beyond that fact.

zk-SNARK

A compact zero-knowledge proof that is quick to check; short for zero-knowledge succinct non-interactive argument of knowledge.

Fully homomorphic encryption (FHE)

Encryption that still lets computers calculate with data while it stays encrypted.

Stealth address

A one-time address made for a single payment, so that payments to the same person cannot be linked.

Ring signature

A signature that proves someone in a group signed, without showing who.

Viewing key

A read-only key that lets its holder see an owner's private history but not spend anything.

Association set

In Privacy Pools, a group of deposits judged acceptable, which a withdrawal can prove it belongs to.

Denomination

One of the fixed sizes a mixer accepts, such as 1 ETH.

Front end

The website or app you use to reach a protocol. It is separate from the code that runs on the blockchain.

Private DeFi TVL

The total value locked (TVL) in the private DeFi protocols this site counts, from DefiLlama. It excludes Tornado Cash unless stated.

Privacy-asset float

The combined market value of the privacy coins in this site's basket, which the overview lists with the rule for choosing them.

Zcash shielded supply

The ZEC held in Zcash's shielded pools, out of public view, as a number of coins and as a share of all ZEC.

PriFi penetration

Private DeFi TVL as a share of the privacy-asset float.

Private share of DeFi

Private DeFi TVL as a share of the TVL of all DeFi that DefiLlama tracks, excluding Tornado Cash unless stated.

How it works explains the ideas behind these terms with illustrations, and Numbers explained answers questions about the figures on this site.