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Depositing to an address that hasn't registered

The Shield tab lets you deposit into the pool for another address instead of your own. If that address has already registered with Privacy Pools, the deposit works like any other: their wallet finds the money on its own. If it hasn't, the app still lets you deposit, but the recipient needs one thing from you to receive it. This page explains that difference.

What's different​

When someone registers with Privacy Pools, they publish a viewing key onchain. Anything deposited or sent to them is announced in a form only they can read, so their wallet discovers it the next time it syncs.

An address that hasn't registered has no such key. There's nothing to announce the deposit to, so nothing onchain points them at it. The deposit still belongs to them, and only they can ever spend it. But they can't discover it by themselves. The claim link the app gives you after the deposit is how they find it.

What you do​

  1. Complete the deposit as normal. Only a plain deposit on the current network is available for an unregistered recipient. Conversions, yield and other networks are off for this kind of deposit, and the app says so if you try.
  2. Copy the claim link from the confirmation screen and send it to the recipient through a channel you trust.
  3. If you lose the link, open the deposit's row in your transactions and copy it again. This works from any browser you sign into, because a backup of the claim details is stored onchain, encrypted to your own viewing key. The backup carries no information about who you paid.

What the recipient does​

  1. Open the claim link and connect the wallet that owns the address. The link only works with that wallet. Anyone else who opens it sees nothing they can spend.
  2. Press Claim Payment. This registers their wallet with Privacy Pools and submits the registration through a relayer, so their address stays private. The relayer takes 0.1% plus a small fixed gas cost out of the deposit.
  3. The funds are then in their shielded balance, ready to withdraw, send or swap like any other deposit.

Worth knowing before you send​

  • The link is the only way to the money until it's claimed. Don't post it anywhere public, and keep a copy until the recipient confirms they have it.
  • Until they claim, the recipient can't move the funds or exit the pool with them, even in an emergency. Both need a registered account.
  • Claiming registers a spending key but doesn't publish a viewing key. If you or anyone else deposits or sends to the same address again before they finish setup in the app, you'll be asked to share another claim link.
  • The fixed part of the relayer fee is negligible on ordinary amounts and painful on tiny ones. On a test amount of a few dollars it can take a large share, so don't test this with pocket change.
  • A recipient signed in with an account key instead of a wallet can import the note but can't claim it. They need to connect the owner wallet once.

Ask the recipient to register first. Registration is a one-time step from the wallet menu in the app. After that, every deposit or transfer to them is found automatically, with nothing for you to send.

For developers​

The app uses the SDK's blind deposit path (a pre-computed note address hash with no recipient announcement) when the recipient has no viewing key. The mechanics of discoverable and out-of-band delivery are in Discoverable vs out-of-band notes, and registration in Accounts and keys.