Starknet Adds Wallet Privacy Controls for DeFi Transactions

Starknet has introduced a new privacy feature designed to reduce the way decentralized finance activity can be traced back to a user’s primary wallet. StarkWare, the team behind the Ethereum layer-2 network, announced Shadow Accounts, which create separate, persistent addresses for individual applications so users can interact with DeFi apps without advertising the link between their public wallet and their onchain positions.

According to StarkWare, the feature is powered by shielded balances from the network’s STRK20 privacy pool. Users can fund Shadow Accounts using these privacy-preserving funds, then maintain DeFi lending, trading, and other positions under different onchain identities.

Key takeaways

• Shadow Accounts generate separate, persistent addresses per decentralized application on Starknet, aiming to break the link between a user’s main wallet and their DeFi activity.
• Funding for Shadow Accounts comes from shielded balances in the Starknet STRK20 privacy pool.
• While the connection to the funding wallet is obscured, Shadow Accounts’ balances, transactions, and positions remain visible onchain—just not clearly attributable to the main wallet.
• StarkWare says the approach can be extended beyond vault deposits to areas such as lending, staking, derivatives, prediction markets, and NFT marketplaces.

How Shadow Accounts change the privacy equation

On public blockchains, wallet-to-wallet and wallet-to-activity linkages can often be reconstructed by tracking flows and transaction histories. Starknet’s Shadow Accounts are intended to reduce that traceability by separating where funds are received from where app interactions occur.

StarkWare said the feature creates separate, persistent addresses for individual applications. In practice, once a DeFi application integrates the functionality, users can connect their wallet, switch between public and private modes, and deposit assets into a vault or other contract-controlled setup. The Shadow Accounts then maintain those positions until the user withdraws back into a shielded balance.

This model matters for traders and active DeFi users because it allows them to segregate behavior across different apps without needing to constantly rotate main wallets. It also gives application developers a clearer path to offering privacy-preserving experiences without requiring users to abandon standard onchain interaction patterns.

What stays public—and what does not

Starknet’s privacy design includes an important nuance: it does not make all activity invisible. StarkWare stated that although the system obscures the connection between a shadow account and the wallet used to fund it, the balances, transactions, and positions related to Shadow Accounts are still publicly visible onchain, citing Starknet documentation on wallet account behavior (Starknet-js account documentation).

For users, that means privacy is primarily about unlinkability—making it harder to tie app-specific activity directly to the funding wallet—rather than about hiding the existence of transactions or positions altogether. For anyone monitoring or analyzing onchain behavior, the feature still provides data, but it increases the effort required to connect that data back to identity-relevant wallet addresses.

From STRK20 shielded balances to app-specific DeFi

Shadow Accounts rely on the network’s privacy pool infrastructure. StarkWare said users can fund these accounts using shielded balances held in the STRK20 privacy pool.

This design connects Starknet’s ongoing privacy framework to practical DeFi flows: users can maintain activity under distinct identities for different apps while funding originates from shielded balances. StarkWare indicated that once DeFi apps integrate Shadow Accounts, the system can support private-to-public switching, deposits into vault-like structures, and subsequent withdrawals back into shielded balances.

In other words, the privacy pool is not just for token shielding in isolation—it becomes the underlying mechanism enabling app-level segregation of onchain identities.

A broader privacy strategy for Starknet

Shadow Accounts build on StarkWare’s earlier steps toward privacy on Starknet. In June, StarkWare introduced its STRK20 privacy framework, which enables private transfers and shielded token balances on the network.

Later that same month, StarkWare also demonstrated a Private Know Your Customer (Private KYC) system. According to earlier coverage from Cointelegraph, the approach focused on allowing users to verify personal information without revealing full identity documents (Cointelegraph report).

Shadow Accounts extend the privacy push from token-level mechanics into app-level user behavior. If developers adopt the feature broadly, it could reshape how users structure DeFi engagement—especially in scenarios where users want to reduce cross-application linkage, such as maintaining separate profiles for lending and trading activity.

StarkWare also suggested the functionality could eventually cover a wide set of DeFi and marketplace activity, including liquidity provision, lending and borrowing, staking, derivatives trading, prediction markets, and NFT marketplaces. While the announcement describes potential expansion, the key operational question for users is how quickly real applications will integrate the feature and what privacy modes they will offer.

What to watch next

For DeFi users on Starknet, the immediate takeaway is that privacy may soon become easier to apply at the application layer, not just the token layer. The next thing to monitor is whether major DeFi platforms and marketplaces integrate Shadow Accounts—and how they implement private mode switching, deposits, and withdrawals in practice.