Understanding Shielded Transactions on Midnight

Midnight is a programmable-privacy blockchain. Its core premise is simple but revolutionary: public verifiability without public visibility. In simple terms, anyone can verify the validity of a transaction (via zero-knowledge proofs), but the actual data, inputs, and identities can remain completely private. If you’ve come from Ethereum, Solana, or even other ZK chains and found “shielded transactions” confusing, you’re not alone. I spent days wrestling with the mental model until it clicked. Be