AirGap add support for Sapling on Tezos mainnet

We are please to announce that AirGap’s newest version now supports Sapling on Tezos mainnet. With our state-of-the-art air gapping technology, you can now enjoy the added security and privacy features of Sapling while keeping your private keys offline.

Published in

AirGap

3 min readJan 25, 2023

On the 3rd of November 2022, we announced Sapling on Ghostnet. This was to test and experiment without risk to real funds. Now we moved a step further, by supporting Sapling also also on mainnet.

Sapling is a significant upgrade for the Tezos blockchain that aims to improve the scalability and privacy of transactions. We know the Tezos community has been eagerly awaiting the integration of Sapling into various Tezos wallets. We are proud to be among the first to offer this feature to its users. We’ve been working diligently to ensure that we provide an infrastructure that supports Sapling. With Sapling, users can now enjoy a more efficient, scalable, and private transaction experience on the Tezos blockchain.

Advantages of Tezos Sapling

True privacy

Crypto is often associated with privacy and anonymity, but it falls short of providing true protection. Due to the public nature of blockchain transactions, someone with enough resources can conduct an on-chain analysis and uncover the real identity behind a public address.

The introduction of Sapling on the Tezos blockchain aims to address this issue by providing a way for transactions to be routed through a shielded pool. This allows for transactions to be conducted with true privacy and anonymity, ensuring that the identity of users remains protected. With Sapling, Tezos can now provide a higher level of privacy than traditional cryptocurrencies and fiat.

Less negative reaction

Because Sapling is not enabled by default for transactions on the Tezos blockchain, it may not elicit a negative reaction that some countries and exchanges have had in the past toward blockchains such as Zcash and Monero, which do include private transactions as a default feature.

Why did we choose the current infrastructure and layout?

Rather than providing a default Sapling contract, we have chosen to provide an interface that allows users to interact with any Sapling contract they choose. This decision was made to address the challenges that come with being the deployer of a privacy-preserving contract on other chains. For example, Tornado Cash, which is a privacy-preserving contract, has faced challenges in the past. This approach gives users the flexibility to choose while also eliminating any future implications with governmental authorities. Users can use their sapling contract or use one from the community.

How to perform Tezos Sapling transactions on AirGap

We’ve written a guide on how to perform Sapling transactions in AirGap. Have a look and get started now: Tezos Sapling guide

Things you need to know about Sapling

Transactions on blockchains are generally not reversible. Saplings also make transactions untraceable. So it is difficult to get any form of support when you use Sapling transactions.

Do you have any questions regarding AirGap? Reach out to us via Discord, Telegram or visit the AirGap help-center.