> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://stealf-fi.gitbook.io/docs/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://stealf-fi.gitbook.io/docs/introduction.md).

# Introduction

#### Public by default

Everything you do onchain is public. Your balance, your payment history, every address you've ever interacted with: it all sits there, open, for anyone who looks.

In 2026 that's worse than ever. Explorers got sharper, wallet clustering got better, and AI tools now map relationships across addresses in minutes instead of weeks. If you get paid in USDC, you already know this; you'd never link your main wallet to your real name.

#### What privacy actually means onchain

Solana, like most blockchains, is *pseudonymous*, not anonymous. Your wallet is a public key, a 32-byte value displayed as a string of 32 to 44 characters. Nothing on that string says "Alice".

The problem is that pseudonymity erodes. Every time you interact with a CEX, mint an NFT, pay a freelancer, or receive a salary, you leave a connection point. Chain analysis firms and, increasingly, off-the-shelf AI tools cross-reference those points until the pseudonym and the person are the same thing. Once your identity touches your address, your entire financial history becomes readable, retroactively, forever.

#### Levels of privacy

Not all "private" transactions protect the same thing. It helps to separate two properties: the **amount** and the **link** between sender and receiver.

| Level        | Amounts | Sender ↔ Receiver link | Example                                                                                              |
| ------------ | ------- | ---------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Confidential | Hidden  | Visible                | Confidential transfers: everyone sees Bob paid Alice, nobody sees how much                           |
| Anonymous    | Visible | Broken                 | Mixers: the amount circulates in the clear, but a third party breaks the trail between Alice and Bob |
| Private      | Hidden  | Broken                 | Shielded pools: neither the amount nor the relationship is observable                                |

Confidentiality without anonymity leaks your social graph. Anonymity without confidentiality leaks your net worth. Real financial privacy needs both, which is the level Stealf builds toward.

#### Privacy is not the opposite of transparency

There's real value in an open network: verifiability, auditability, the ability to prove a payment happened without trusting anyone. We don't want to destroy that, and you shouldn't have to pick a camp.

The point is that transparency should be a choice, not a default you can't opt out of. Your bank doesn't publish your statements; onchain finance shouldn't either. The next wave of adoption, retail and institutional alike, depends on combining the benefits of an open network with the privacy people already expect from everyday financial services. The two are compatible. That's the whole bet.

#### Our vision

Every existing solution misses something. Privacy chains live on isolated networks where liquidity is thin. Shielded pools on Solana work, except your money just sleeps there. So you get a choice: hide your money, or use it.

Crypto cards already proved people want to spend onchain. Privacy protocols proved the tech works. Nobody shipped both sides in one product.

We did. Stealf is live in public beta.


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