Private Payments Are Live on Polygon

Today we're making private payments available through the Polygon wallet via Hinkal, which uses zero-knowledge proofs to verify every transfer.

Starting now, self custodial users can send stablecoins on the Polygon network without publishing the sender, the receiver, or the amount on chain.

Confidentiality has been among the most significant gaps between onchain rails and what institutional finance actually needs to move serious stablecoin volume. Banks, treasuries, and payments teams already live with confidentiality on traditional rails. They won't move operational flows onto a ledger that broadcasts every counterparty and every amount to every observer on the network.

We've now made available privacy capabilities in the Polygon wallet that we believe address a core operational requirement for many institutional payment teams.

Hinkal’s privacy protocol handles the cryptography behind every private transfer. The Hinkal protocol permits transactions through a shielded protocol using zero-knowledge proofs to verify without exposing sender, receiver, or amount. The protocol is non-custodial: funds never sit with Hinkal (or Polygon) or with any party during a transfer. Pairing Hinkal's privacy layer with the Polygon network's speed and cost makes confidential stablecoin payments practical at the scale enterprise teams need.

For institutional finance, that means keeping the speed and cost of onchain settlement without giving up the confidentiality they get from traditional rails today.

For app developers building on the Polygon network, it means a new product you can offer your users: any app integrated with the Polygon wallet can flip on private payments and allow their self custodial users to send stablecoins privately, with no new infrastructure to stand up.

For users, it means sending shielded stablecoin payments, without hassle.

The Hinkal functionality gives users privacy and a faster path to serving institutions that wouldn't have touched a public chain before.

The problem and the solution

Every stablecoin transfer on a public blockchain publishes three facts to the world:

• who sent it
• who received it, and
• how much moved

For a treasury team paying vendors, a fintech running payroll, or a business settling internal flows across entities, for instance, that exposure is a real operational problem. Public chains deliver the speed, cost, and 24/7 availability that traditional banking rails don't. They also broadcast the details of every payment to every observer on the network.

That trade-off has, in our view, kept serious enterprise volume offchain. We heard it from partners across payments, payroll, and treasury: confidentiality is not a feature request, it is a prerequisite. Private Payments is the first step toward closing the gap.

How it works

Inside wallet.polygon.technology, users now see a "Privately Send" option alongside the standard send flow.

When a user selects that option, the user can opt to send their transaction information through a confidential protocol instead of a standard onchain transfer. Zero-knowledge proofs confirm the math without exposing sensitive financial data. Outside observers can verify that a valid transfer occurred. They cannot see the participants or the amount. Senders and receivers are not linkable onchain.

Three properties matter for enterprise teams:

1. Every transfer is verified cryptographically. Confidentiality is a property of the zero-knowledge proof. Competitors, counterparties, and the public see only that a valid transfer occurred on the network.
2. Screening is built into the flow. Every private transaction is subject to KYT (Know Your Transaction) screening, conducted by Hinkal, before execution. Privacy features are designed to limit public visibility of transaction data, while enabling users to comply with applicable legal and regulatory obligations, including through transaction screening and audit capabilities where available. 
3. No one takes custody mid-transfer. Funds move directly between wallets through the protocol. No server or operator holds or controls the assets during the transfer.

Who this is for

We built private payments for a specific class of enterprise risk: any stablecoin flow where a public record of sender, receiver, and amount creates competitive or operational exposure. In practice, as illustrative examples of potential use cases (subject to compliance with applicable laws and regulations), that covers treasury transfers between legal entities, vendor and contractor payments, internal fund movements across business units, and settlement between counterparties that don't want their relationships on a public ledger.  

Traditional banking rails deliver this confidentiality by default. Wire transfer details are not public record. But banks settle slowly, charge high fees, and operate on limited hours.

Onchain settlement inverts that equation: faster, cheaper, always on — and, too often, exposed. Private payments brings the missing piece to payment teams using the Polygon network.

Where this fits in what we're building

Private payments on wallet.polygon is the first user-facing privacy capability we've made available at the wallet layer, delivered in partnership with Hinkal as described above. It's one piece of a broader direction we expect to expand across the Open Money Stack: privacy as a core capability.

We are exploring additional privacy capabilities to complement the wallet and intend to share further details as development progresses. No commitment or timeline is provided or implied and these plans are subject to change. 

Try it

Private payment integrations are live today for USDC and USDT on wallet.polygon. 

Try private payments on wallet.polygon.technology →

DISCLAIMER

This post is for general informational purposes only. It does not constitute legal, financial, tax, regulatory, or investment advice, and should not be relied upon as such. Users are responsible for ensuring their use of any Polygon product complies with all applicable laws and regulations in their jurisdiction. Nothing in this post constitutes a solicitation, offer, or recommendation to buy, sell, or use any product or service. Polygon shall not be liable for any loss or damage arising from use of, or reliance on, the private payments feature or the information in this post. 

Use of the private payments feature is subject to Polygon's Terms and Conditions (and any Hinkal terms and conditions) and all applicable Polygon policies, each as amended from time to time. Polygon's Terms and Conditions are available at polygon.technology/terms-of-use. By using private payments, users agree to be bound by those terms. Polygon reserves the right to restrict or terminate access to any code, feature, or support for any user or in any jurisdiction where legal or regulatory requirements so demand. Polygon will respond to lawful legal process to the extent required by applicable law and consistent with Polygon's privacy obligations. Nothing in the design or operation of private payments is intended to, or shall be construed to, impede or obstruct any lawful investigation or regulatory examination. 

Transaction privacy is provided through Hinkal's protocol. Polygon Labs makes no representations or warranties regarding Hinkal's technology, compliance posture, or the performance of any third-party service. 

Statements in this post regarding future products, features, or capabilities are forward-looking and subject to change without notice. Polygon reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to modify, suspend, limit, or discontinue the private payments program, in whole or in part, at any time and without prior notice.