How to Live Privately Onchain

If you're like me, you may feel that discussions around privacy are great, but often a little underwhelming when they deal with theoretical implementations of future features rather than tools we can use in the here and now.

While we still have a long way to go in enabling a fully decentralized private world across blockchains, many miss that there's already a toolkit of applications available to reduce your onchain footprint.

ZKP2P, Fluidkey, Railgun, and Veil — tools that I or my colleague William have covered this year — have been providing a new private pathway for crypto users looking to get funds onchain, manage them securely, earn yield, and transfer between wallets.

Below I've assembled a guide to walk through each part and how to use these accessible protocols to set up a private life onchain 👇

1️⃣ On-Ramping Privately

Onramping typically requires extensive KYC procedures that permanently link your identity to wallet addresses. Yet we have alternatives. Two privacy-preserving options let you bypass traditional ramps with novel verification methods or stealth infrastructure.

ZKP2P

ZKP2P lets users onramp through their peer-to-peer marketplace using zero-knowledge proofs to confirm payments without exposing personal data.

The protocol matches buyers wanting to onramp with sellers looking to offramp, facilitating direct exchanges through services like Venmo, Zelle, or Wise. If I want to onramp $30, I send $30 via one of these providers to a seller, who returns $30 of USDC. Using ZKP2P's PeerAuth browser extension, a cryptographic proof of payment unlocks the funds — all without revealing unnecessary personal information. Further,  everything runs in your browser with data discarded after each session.

Onramp Privately with ZKP2P on Bankless

Explore how ZKP2P’s V2 offers a privacy-preserving, low-cost way to move funds on and offchain

BanklessDavid C Jun 20, 2025 • 5 min read

Fluidkey (with Bridge)

Next we have Base-based privacy wallet Fluidkey, which integrates Bridge's banking infrastructure directly into its feature set. When you on-ramp through Fluidkey, your USD or EUR converts to USDC and lands in stealth addresses under your control. While Bridge requires light KYC for compliance, this information never gets tied to your public wallet history. Each deposit flows into a unique, unlinkable address, giving you a clean start onchain while maintaining the convenience of traditional banking rails.

Moving Money Privately with Fluidkey on Bankless

Fluidkey is a privacy app on Base that recently added support for seamless fiat on/off-ramps.

BanklessWilliam M. Peaster Mar 4, 2025 • 3 min read

2️⃣ Holding and Managing Assets Privately

Once your funds are onchain, maintaining privacy means ensuring no one can link your transactions or track holdings. These tools abstract away address management and shield your assets from public view.

Fluidkey

As a wallet, Fluidkey automates stealth address generation to create a new address for every incoming transaction. This breaks the link between sender and receiver while aggregating balances behind the scenes so you interact with a single interface, while Fluidkey handles the complexity of managing multiple addresses. Additional features include social login through Privy, Safe smart accounts, and multichain swaps via Socket.

Railgun (via Railway)

Railgun creates a comprehensive shield around your assets via ZKPs. Operating as smart contracts on Ethereum, Arbitrum, Polygon, and BNB Chain, Railgun lets you "shield" assets into private 0zk addresses. Once shielded, you can swap, lend, farm, and interact with DeFi protocols through the Railway frontend, keeping sender, receiver, and amounts completely hidden. 

Trying Private DeFi with RAILGUN on Bankless

Dig into the onchain privacy tech that’s on the rise amid the Ethereum Foundation’s ‘Defipunk’ push.

BanklessWilliam M. Peaster Jun 10, 2025 • 4 min read

3️⃣ Earning Yield Privately

Simply holding assets isn't enough — we move onchain for the upside. Privacy shouldn't come at the cost of earning potential, and thanks to Privacy Pools and Railgun, it doesn't.

Privacy Pools by 0xbow

0xbow's Privacy Pools now doubles as a private, compliant yield vault thanks to Sky's sUSDS integration. Using their Association Set Provider (ASP), Privacy Pools conducts real-time onchain analysis to vet deposits, leveraging a concept initially conceived by Vitalik Buterin. When withdrawing, users generate a ZKP ensuring funds originate from a "clean" set without exposing transaction details.

Railgun (via Railway integrations)

Railgun's Railway frontend comes with DeFi integrations letting you put assets to work. Access yield aggregator Beefy Finance via Railway to earn on your shielded assets, with positions remaining hidden per Railgun's feature set.

4️⃣ Transferring Privately

When moving assets privately between wallets, you've got three options, each approaching the matter differently.

Veil

Built for breaking transaction links, Veil excels for one-time moves from a doxxed wallet to a fresh start. Deposit ETH or USDC into zkSNARK-masked pools on Base, then withdraw to new wallets without any tie. You'll get a secret note that unlocks your funds. Choose between public or Coinbase-verified pools based on compliance needs. Note: Wait between depositing and withdrawing to avoid timing analysis.

Getting Started with Veil’s Privacy Protocol on Base on Bankless

Veil is a privacy app on Base that lets you move ETH anonymously, breaking links between wallets.

BanklessWilliam M. Peaster Mar 11, 2025 • 4 min read

Privacy Pools by 0xbow

Privacy Pools offers deposit-withdrawal link breaking, serving as an intermediary for transferring ETH, USDC, USDS, and sUSDS between addresses, with more assets on the horizon. Their ASP system ensures you're proving funds are clean, while ragequit ensures you're never locked out.

Exploring Compliant Onchain Privacy with 0xbow’s Privacy Pools on Bankless

Privacy Pools is a tool on Ethereum that lets you privately withdraw crypto while proving your funds didn’t come from bad actors.

BanklessWilliam M. Peaster Apr 4, 2025 • 4 min read

Railgun

The only end-to-end solution here. While others require deposit and withdraw, Railgun enables direct transfers between private addresses indefinitely — just 0zk to 0zk with everything hidden. The tradeoff: both parties must use Railgun wallets.

There we have it — a complete toolkit for living privately onchain, from first dollar to DeFi yield. Depending on your privacy needs, here are some formulas to try:

• Maximal Privacy: ZKP2P → Railgun. Onramp peer-to-peer to a fresh wallet, then transfer everything into 0zk addresses. Sacrifice convenience for comprehensive privacy.
• Practical Privacy: Fluidkey with Bridge → Fluidkey wallet → Privacy Pools for yield. Balance privacy with usability while earning yield.
• Occasional Privacy: Use Veil or Privacy Pools when needed. For those generally fine with public transactions but occasionally wanting to break links.

While we're early in building everyday privacy apps, there are clear ways to increase anonymity onchain, with many more coming as privacy gains steam.

In a world where more institutions join us onchain, analytics and tracking will increase too. Navigating this environment privately will prove essential to retain the freedom blockchains promise. For those wanting a sovereign, bankless life, I'd recommend exploring these apps, learning how they function and might fit into your onchain life. It may be more necessary than we expect.

P.S: If you’re looking to learn even more about privacy, I’d recommend starting with Ethereum Grant recipient Web3Privacy’s “Privacy 101” course — a free course that walks you through the basics of crypto-based privacy.