Zero-knowledge settlement
Your position.
Invisible
onchain.
routing shielded pool
counterparty not disclosed
proof zk-SNARK
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Zero-knowledge settlement
This document describes what the protocol proves, what it hides, and what it doesn't. It is a description of intended behavior, not a guarantee.
Occlude routes trades through a shielded pool secured by zero-knowledge proofs. Positions enter the pool as deposits and leave as settlements; nothing in the on-chain record links one to the other. The mechanism is a three-stage pipeline: shield, prove, settle.
Deposits enter a shared pool rather than moving wallet-to-wallet. Once inside, a position is indistinguishable from any other position of the same denomination — the same principle Zcash's shielded pool and, more recently, Penumbra's private trading venue are built on. Withdrawals are unlinked from deposits by construction, not by policy: there is no log to subpoena, because the pool itself doesn't retain the mapping.
Every trade is accompanied by a zk-SNARK — a succinct, non-interactive proof that the trade is valid: sufficient balance, correct authorization, no double-spend. The verifier checks the proof in constant time and never sees the amount, the counterparty, or which prior deposit the funds are drawn from. The proof convinces without revealing.
The proof system hides the details of a trade, not its existence. The table below is the actual boundary, no more, no less.
Like any zk-SNARK system, Occlude's circuit relies on a one-time trusted setup ceremony; its soundness holds as long as at least one participant destroyed their portion of the toxic waste. The pool's anonymity set grows with usage — privacy is a property of the crowd you're settling alongside, not a fixed guarantee. Occlude has not undergone a third-party security audit. Treat this document as a description of intended behavior, not a warranty.
Zero-knowledge settlement
Privacy isn't the feature. It's what stops these from happening.
Public mempools let bots see a trade before it lands, and price against it. A shielded trade can't be sandwiched if its size and direction were never visible.
A visible wallet is a visible strategy. Anyone can watch, copy, or trade ahead of a pattern that plays out in public. Shielding breaks the link between wallet and position.
A large, identifiable on-chain balance is a target — for phishing, for social engineering, for worse. What isn't visible can't be targeted.
Every position moves through the same three-stage pipeline before it reaches the ledger.
Funds enter the shared pool. The deposit is no longer distinguishable from any other.
A zk-SNARK proof confirms the trade is valid, without revealing amount or counterparty.
Execution finalizes on-chain. No entry links the output back to your original deposit.
Zero-knowledge proofs hide the details of a trade, not its existence. Here's the actual boundary, no more, no less.