Polygon added private payments for stablecoins, letting users hide transfer details from the public blockchain, though there is one caveat.
The Ethereum scaling network is trying to turn itself into stablecoin payment infrastructure, and Polygon’s latest step is a new wallet privacy feature that lets businesses send USDC▲$0.9998 and USDT▲$0.9993 without showing private info on the public network.
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Polygon Labs said in a Monday, May 4 blog post that the new “Privately Send” option is live in Polygon wallet and runs through Hinkal, a shielded-pool privacy protocol.
- The setup uses zero-knowledge proofs, a cryptographic method that lets the network confirm a payment is valid without disclosing its sensitive parts.
- Although that might sound a little like a traditional mixer at first glance, it’s not being pitched as anything-goes privacy.
As Polygon directly says, “every private transaction passes through KYT (Know Your Transaction) screening before execution,” adding further that “privacy means opacity to the market, not opacity to regulators.”
Not Pure Private Payments For Everyone
Polygon Labs says the protocol is non-custodial, so neither Hinkal nor another operator holds the funds during the transfer. But according to the team, the feature is mainly aimed at companies rather than retail users.
As the developers explained, it built the feature “for a specific class of enterprise risk,” including teams moving treasury funds between legal entities, paying vendors or contractors.
Polygon Labs added that it’s working “on more privacy offerings to complement the wallet,” but didn’t elaborate, saying only it will share specifics “as each piece is ready.”
The feature comes shortly after Meta, the social media company behind Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, started offering USDC payouts to select creators in Colombia and the Philippines on Polygon and Solana.
Read more: Visa Expands Stablecoin Settlement Pilot to Nine Blockchains
