Bitcoin researchers propose Zcash-style shielded transfers

Researchers from [[alloc] init] have introduced Shielded Bitcoin, a metaprotocol designed to enable private transactions on the Bitcoin network without requiring consensus rule changes. The proposal utilizes Zcash-inspired techniques, including encrypted notes, public nullifiers, and zero-knowledge proofs, to hide transaction amounts and participant identities. Bitcoin would serve as the publication and ordering layer, while external implementations would validate the shielded state, offering enhanced privacy compared to existing methods like CoinJoin or Silent Payments.