What Is Cloak?
Cloak is a privacy app built on Solana. It lets you move supported assets into a private balance, then send, swap, or withdraw them without publicly showing the wallet that originally funded the transaction. On Solana, wallet activity is public by default, and anyone with your wallet address can view your token balances, transactions, and the wallets you interact with. Cloak, live on mainnet, is designed to break that public presence.
How Does Cloak Work?
Cloak works by moving your funds into a shielded pool developed with zero-knowledge. Once your funds are shielded, they become part of a private balance that only you can control. When you later send funds, the recipient receives them from the Cloak pool rather than directly from your wallet. This means your original wallet does not appear as the sender onchain.
What Can You Do With Cloak?
Cloak currently supports a few main actions that would be demonstrated in the “Using the Cloak App” section. Some of these are:
- Swap shielded SOL into supported tokens through Jupiter.
- Send funds privately to a Solana wallet address or a .sol domain.
- Create payment links for people who do not want to share a wallet address.
- Withdraw funds back to a wallet you control.
- Integrate privacy into an app as a developer using the Cloak SDK.
The payment link feature is particularly useful for sending someone crypto without asking for their wallet address. You create a link, share it privately, and the recipient can claim the funds to their own wallet.
How to Get Started With Cloak
Getting started is simple:
- Connect a supported Solana wallet.
- Choose SOL, USDC, or USDT.
- Shield the amount you want to move into your private balance.
- Download and store your backup file safely (this is important).
- Use your private balance to send, swap, create payment links, or withdraw.
Using the Cloak App
The Cloak app can be used to send, swap and create payments on Solana.
Sending Funds Privately
When you send funds through Cloak, the recipient receives a normal payment in their Solana wallet. They do not need to use Cloak themselves. The difference is that the payment comes from the Cloak pool, not directly from your public wallet. This helps keep your funding wallet separate from the recipient’s wallet.
Input the amount from the connected wallet that is to be used privately in the protocol and approve transactions.
After depositing, the balance can now be sent t o another wallet address without it being traceable on the explorer. Input the receiving address and make the transfer. Wait as it generates the proofs that make the process possible. Cloak also generates a receipt that can be signed and shared as proof of transfer.
Swapping Assets with Cloak
Swapping tokens privately can be done using the “Swap” option of the application. Tokens can be exchanged anonymously such that the exchange is obfuscated by the Cloak ZK swap feature.
Payroll
To make mass payments privately, Cloak provides users with a Payroll feature where the sender inputs all the addresses to receive payments with the amounts to be received by each recipient, and sends the transaction in one batch.
Payment Link
In addition to transferring assets privately using the Send option, users can create payment links that recipients can use to claim funds. The receiver gains the amount sent without knowing the sender’s wallet.
The link can only be used once, and it must be sent to the receiver alone since the funds can be claimed by anyone with a wallet.
The recipient uses the link, connects their wallet and accepts the payment through the page below.
Fees
Shielding funds into Cloak is free at the protocol level, although your wallet still pays normal Solana network fees. Sending funds out of the private pool, swapping, or withdrawing to your wallet costs a 0.3% fee plus a small fixed fee, as seen in the previous $10 USDC transfer. SOL transfers cost 0.005 SOL plus 0.3%, and the USDC and USDT transfers cost 0.45 tokens plus 0.3%. The recipient receives the amount you enter, while the fee is deducted from your private balance.
Privacy Does Not Mean Complete Anonymity
Cloak is built for transaction privacy, not complete anonymity. It can hide the onchain link between the wallet that deposited funds and the wallet that receives them later. However, once funds leave the private pool, their future activity is public again. Cloak also includes transaction screening and offers viewing keys. A viewing key can be used to share your transaction history with an accountant, auditor, or other trusted party without giving them the ability to move your funds.
Risks and Things to Know
Cloak is still in beta, so users should be careful and start with smaller amounts. The biggest thing to understand is custody. Cloak does not hold your private balance or recovery information. Your backup file, while setting up, is the key to your private funds. Anyone who accesses it may be able to claim your balance, and losing it could mean permanently losing access to your funds.
Conclusion
Cloak gives Solana users a way to make payments and manage balances with more privacy. Instead of publicly exposing every balance, payment, and wallet connection, users can shield funds and choose when to reveal their activity. Cloak is still in beta; it is best to understand the backup process and privacy limitations before using it with larger amounts.
