Privacy Overview

With this knowledge of ZK proofs and zk-SNARKs, we can see how RAILGUN maintains privacy. Users can prove they have the right to spend tokens without needing to reveal what those tokens are and how much they have of it. Broadcasters and private pools then obscure the senders and recipients of interactions such that no identifiable information is compromised at any stage in the process.

To use an old-world analogy, RAILGUN users are writers of letters, ZK proofs fact check the contents of the letters, RAILGUN smart contracts are a sealed envelope, and Broadcasters are mailmen. All an outside observer can see is that a letter has been posted, but they would have no visibility as to what is in the letter or who has sent it.