Confidential Transfers on Sui: Encrypted Balances with ZK Proofs and Controlled Access

"bro wat is confidential transfers?" An explanation of confidential transfers on @SuiNetwork, in (very) simple terms. 🧵

"huh why?" Because financial data is sensitive. If you’re a company moving treasury onchain, people can see: - how much you paid someone - who you paid - how often you paid them - how much money you still have - whether you are cooking or cooked Not good.

“so what do you want?” You want privacy by default. But with controlled access when there is a real reason. That’s the point of confidential transfers.

"how does it work?" When you make a confidential transfer, the amount and balance stay encrypted onchain. The sender and receiver are visible. But the actual number moved is hidden. So people can see that something happened, but not if it was $10 meal voucher or $1b contract.

"how does the chain know the txn is valid?" zk proofs. Very simply: You prove the transaction is valid without revealing the private numbers. So without seeing the actual amount, the chain can check: - you had enough money - you didn’t create fake money - the math adds up

"how does that add control?" Tokens can have auditor keys. That means a specific approved party can decrypt specific transaction data when needed.

"example?" A company can give an auditor access to verify transfers. The auditor sees what they need. The public does not. The random guy on CT with Dune dashboards does not. Greg from a competitor still does not. Think of it as controlled privacy.

"tldr" Confidential transfers hide balances and amounts onchain using encryption and zk proofs. Sender and receiver can stay visible. Amounts stay private. Compliance can still happen. Nobody sees the numbers unless they are supposed to. 🫶