One of the main features of blockchain is the ability to transfer funds anywhere in the world without intermediaries. It is also believed of blockchain, which is anonymous, that we can send any amount of money anywhere or to anyone without it being known that it is us. This is false. Blockchain is completely public and, through wallet addresses, it is possible to track the sending of funds and transaction history.
True anonymity in blockchain
To achieve anonymity in transactions within a blockchain, several protocols are under development to enable this. One of the most popular second-layer projects is zk.money
, built on the Aztec rollup. It allows anonymizing the sending of funds within this network so that they are not traceable.
The first step to use this protocol is to enter the zk.money website and connect your wallet of choice. Throughout the use of this protocol, you will encounter multiple signatures that you must provide with your wallet in order to use them. It is advisable to read what we are signing, basically, it is about authorizing the platform to access our funds and how they will be used.
The platform works through an alias that you can choose. Make sure it has no personal data to maintain anonymity. The alias will be your public key on the network. If you lose it, you will not be able to recover it.

Next, you will need to fund your zk.monkey
wallet from the Ethereum Mainnet by sending some ETH.

After a few minutes, the transaction will be completed and you will see, on the one hand, the total amount in your wallet, while, on the other hand, the available amount. The protocol requires a 4-hour wait to be able to use the funds for security reasons and to maintain anonymity.

Once you can use your funds, you can send them back to Layer 1 or send them to another wallet within the same protocol. For this it is necessary to use the alias of the account that we want to be the recipient of the funds. The whole protocol interacts through the aliases, if you want to send ETH to a friend, you will have to request theirs.

zk.money
is a Rollup that works by "rolling up" hundreds of economic transactions into one. This is what allows, among other factors, to maintain anonymity. The protocol stores transaction information in Ethereum every N number of accumulated transactions of the platform's users. Until the transaction slot is not complete, your funds will not be sent.

This transaction can take several minutes, or you can do it instantly by paying for the entire remaining slot. That is, paying the commission for each transaction. Sending these funds from a few cents on the dollar to several dollars in commission.
Aztec
and zk.monkey
are an interesting and truly anonymous ecosystem that is expanding and improving. In addition to sending funds, you can find some DeFi protocols already working anonymously and soon they will have trading services, also anonymous.
What do you think about this kind of anonymous services, do you think they are really necessary or is it right to use them?
Contribution created by: Kevin Fiorentino (Platzi Contributor).
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