Privacy isnot binary.
Different payments have different threat models. Sanect lets you choose which of sender, recipient and amount to hide for each transfer — instead of paying for maximum privacy every time, or accepting full transparency because privacy was inconvenient.
A normal transfer — the standard eth_sendTransaction.
“R sent 100 SNCT to A.” Full sender → recipient link; both wallet histories show it.
When the payment is already public — paying an exchange, settling an auction, public DeFi. Routing a public payment through the pool gains nothing.
Pay a shielded address directly from your public balance.
“R deposited 100 SNCT into the pool.” A new commitment and an encrypted memo. A’s wallet history shows nothing; she finds the note by scanning with her viewing key.
You want to pay one person privately and don’t hold shielded funds yet. To observers it looks like you shielding for yourself.
Pay a regular address from your shielded balance.
“Pool sent 100 SNCT to A. One nullifier consumed.” A’s balance credits; nothing traces back to R’s deposit.
Counterparties without privacy set up whom you still don’t want tracing the payment back: contractors, donations, settling debts.
Both sides hold shielded balances. Maximum privacy.
“Pool activity. One nullifier consumed, one commitment added.” Nothing identifies R, A, or the amount.
Routine private payments: salary, recurring transfers, counterparties who both value discretion.
| Mode | Sender | Recipient | Amount | Needs shielded balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public send | visible | visible | visible | no |
| Shield-to-recipient | visible | hidden | visible | no |
| Anonymous to 0x | hidden | visible | visible | yes |
| Fully private | hidden | hidden | hidden | yes |
You don’t pick the mode. The wallet does.
The Send tab has one recipient field. Paste an address; the app detects whether it is a normal 0x address or a shielded snctsh1… address, checks your shielded balance, and picks the right mode. A live banner under the field says which mode will fire and exactly what it will and won’t hide.