Starknet has launched Shadow Accounts, enabling users to interact with decentralized finance applications through separate, persistent addresses tied to their main wallets. Users fund these addresses using shielded balances held within Starknet's STRK20 privacy pool, allowing them to manage lending, trading, and other DeFi positions under distinct on-chain identities.
StarkWare, the team behind Starknet, confirmed that while the funding link is obscured, the balances, transactions, and positions of Shadow Accounts remain publicly visible on-chain. The feature decouples a user's primary wallet identity from specific DeFi engagements but does not provide full transactional anonymity.
Once integrated into a DeFi application, users can connect their wallets, activate private mode, and deposit assets into a vault. Shadow Accounts maintain these positions until the user withdraws funds back into a shielded balance.
StarkWare said the functionality could expand beyond vaults to include liquidity provision, lending, borrowing, staking, derivatives trading, prediction markets, and NFT marketplaces.
The launch follows StarkWare's June introduction of its STRK20 privacy framework, which facilitates private transfers and shielded token balances across Starknet. That same month, StarkWare demonstrated a Private Know Your Customer system allowing users to verify personal information without disclosing full identity documents.
