VEIL

A neutral, multi-chain confidential-payments network for stablecoins. Send USDC/USDT without broadcasting every amount to the world — with compliance built in as zero-knowledge proofs, not a backdoor. Confidentiality, not anonymity.

VEIL targets crypto's one proven market (stablecoins: ~$290B supply, ~$28T quarterly volume) and its best-performing narrative (privacy), assembling primitives both major ecosystems shipped in 2025–26 into a product that regulated businesses can actually use. See the whitepaper for the full rationale, and docs/token-ideas.md for the logic audit that selected VEIL over two alternatives.

Repository layout

Path	What
docs/whitepaper.md	VEIL design, token/value-accrual, threat model, roadmap.
docs/market-research-2026.md	State-of-the-art crypto/Ethereum/Solana research the design is grounded in.
docs/token-ideas.md	The three candidate concepts and the audit that chose VEIL.
packages/contracts	EVM shielded pool, token/buyback-burn/staking module, cross-chain settlers (Solidity + Hardhat), circom withdrawal circuit, tests.
packages/sdk	Client SDK: notes, Merkle proofs, association sets, view-key encryption.
packages/services	Off-chain services: relayer (gasless proving) + Association Set Provider (screening).
packages/app	Business payments client + veil CLI (shield / pay / audit).
packages/web	Local dashboard at localhost:3000 that runs & visualizes a real confidential payment.
packages/solana	Solana Token-2022 confidential-transfer prototype + CLI runbook.

How it works (one paragraph)

Deposits are public: you shield value tokens under a commitment Poseidon(value, Poseidon(nullifier, secret)) inserted into a Merkle tree, and the note is encrypted to a view key so you (or an auditor you choose) can later decrypt it. Withdrawals are private: a zero-knowledge proof shows your commitment is in the pool tree and in an approved association set (proof of innocence) without revealing which deposit is yours, revealing only a nullifier to stop double-spends. A protocol fee on each withdrawal funds an on-chain buyback-and-burn; the VEIL token is the slashable bond that keeps the rail un-censorable.

Quick start

# from the repo root
npm install --workspaces

# EVM shielded pool — compiles (offline solc) and runs the full suite
npm run test:contracts     # 7 passing

# Client SDK — notes, merkle proofs, association sets, view keys
npm run test:sdk           # 8 passing

# Solana prototype — type-check
npm run typecheck:solana

Deploy & run the live demo

cd packages/contracts
npx hardhat node &                                       # local devnet
npx hardhat run scripts/deploy.ts  --network localhost   # deploy the full stack
npx hardhat run scripts/demo.ts    --network localhost   # run a real confidential payment

The demo prints the whole flow end-to-end (verified live against a local node with the real Groth16 verifier):

1. business shielded 1000.0 USDC (balance now private)
2. ASP published approved-set root (proof of innocence available)
3. relayer paid supplier 996.0 USDC privately (business paid no gas)
   relayer fee: 3.0 USDC · protocol fee -> buyback&burn: 1.0 USDC
4. auditor decrypted the shielded note with the view key: 1000.0 USDC

Prefer a visual? Run the dashboard instead of the CLI demo — with the node + deploy from above:

cd packages/web && npm install && npm start   # -> http://localhost:3000

Click Run a confidential payment to execute the real flow and see the public (encrypted) view beside the auditor's decrypted view. See packages/web.

Point the same scripts at a testnet with --network sepolia (set SEPOLIA_RPC_URL and DEPLOYER_PRIVATE_KEY). See deployments/.

Status

Prototype. Implemented: EVM shielded pool + tests (on-chain Merkle root cross-checked against an independent computation); client SDK + tests; withdrawal circuit compiled with a Groth16 trusted setup into a real verifier; relayer + Association Set Provider services; token + buyback-and-burn + staking/slashing module (value-accrual loop tested from a real pool fee); cross-chain shielded payments (ERC-7683-style open → fill → claim); a staking-gated relayer; and a business payments app (shield/pay/audit) tested end-to-end with a real proof — 26/26 contract tests passing. Remaining before production: a public trusted-setup ceremony, a real cross-chain messaging oracle, hardened key storage, and an independent security audit. See the whitepaper roadmap.

Not audited. Not for production use. Research prototype.