Whitepaper (Preface)
Cross-Chain Shared Privacy
Introducing Hinkal
In traditional finance, there’s no public visibility of your assets and transactions. The opposite is true in the blockchains - everything is visible in real-time with the whole history attached to your wallet.
Hinkal's mission is to address this issue by providing a secure, horizontal solution, providing financial privacy across all networks. Hinkal has created a mutually beneficial ecosystem for all participants by introducing a re-purposing framework. Institutional and individual investors that contribute to increasing the TVA (Total Value Anonymized) receive rewards, while their contributed assets remain liquid for further usage.
For Non-Crypto Native Users
To unlock the full potential of open blockchains, the best qualities of traditional finance with the unique advantages of blockchain technology must be combined. This transition requires a bridge that facilitates an efficient, meritocratic financial system settled on blockchains.
In traditional finance, individuals hold their funds in bank accounts, and no one can see those assets. Similarly, asset managers hold assets in brokerage accounts or exchanges, ensuring privacy and security. This level of security and safety is crucial for users. Hinkal brings this same financial experience to decentralized finance. With Hinkal, users can own and transact assets like in traditional finance, without the risk of being monitored or targeted. Institutions can enjoy a traditional finance-level experience on major public chains while maintaining full self-custody over their assets.
Hinkal is an institutional-grade, self-custodial protocol designed to empower users with full control over their on-chain assets, mirroring the secure standards of traditional finance. Institutional and individual users can leverage Hinkal’s Shared Privacy Pool to store assets and execute transactions across DeFi markets without compromising on privacy or compliance. Simultaneously, users not interested in privacy are incentivized to contribute to increasing the Shared Privacy pool by staking their assets. In return, they receive rewards and liquid tokens representing the staked underlying assets that can be used for further strategies.
In today's blockchain landscape, where tools like Arkham, Nansen, and DeBank make it easier for hackers and bots to track and front-run wallets, Hinkal ensures users’ on-chain activity remains protected, promoting a secure DeFi ecosystem that is beneficial for all participants.
For Crypto-Native Users
Hinkal is a middleware and set of smart contracts on EVM chains that uses ZK-proofs and stealth addresses to enable compliant and private transactions on major dApps. Users can privately store assets and transact on major dApps such as Uniswap, Pendle, Lido, Curve, and others.
So far, providing complete privacy for on-chain transactions required very large Shielded Pools on each network, able to mask transaction volumes from every participant effectively. To solve the issue of fragmented liquidity for Shielded Pools, Hinkal introduces a horizontal, cross-chain Shared Privacy Pool, secured by a restaking coordination layer similar to Eigenlayer. Contributors can stake their assets to increase the volume (and effectiveness) of the Shared Privacy Pool. In return, they receive rewards and a tokenized representation of their staked assets that can be used for further DeFi operations.
Hinkal solves major problems that similar protocols faced before:
Integrity and security: Hinkal uses an “Access Token” scheme to allow users to prove their innocence by demonstrating ownership of CEX accounts or passing privacy-preserving KYC/B via Authento, Zkme, or Galxe passport. Hinkal prevents illicit users from accessing the protocol through a required “validity check.” This check means users can either use Centralized Exchanges or DID protocols to prove compliance. These attestations are reusable, allowing users to prove their legitimacy within the crypto space and use this proof to access Hinkal’s layer that enables non-disclosure of transactions. Hinkal does not maintain user records.
Adoption Barriers: Public blockchains have demonstrated their ability to accumulate value. However, current L1/L2 infrastructures that aim at achieving on-chain privacy fall short in providing sufficient incentives for asset migration. Hinkal seamlessly integrates with existing liquidity, overcoming these limitations.
Comprehensive Functionality: While other dApps have focused on basic wallet obfuscation, a function that can be easily achieved through centralized exchanges, Hinkal offers a robust execution layer. This ensures a complete end-to-end experience, enabling users to deposit assets into a shielded address and engage in a wide range of activities, such as buying/selling tokens on major DEXs, staking, providing liquidity, and yield trading.
Mutually Beneficial Ecosystem: Privacy Pools have been limited in volume, and therefore anonymizing capabilities, by the pooled assets of their participants. Hinkal is introducing a framework where both participants and contributors benefit from each other, unlocked by incentivized staking and re-purposing of staked value.
Cross-chain Solution Instead of providing a vertical, siloed privacy solution specific to each network, Hinkal unlocks the full potential of Privacy Pools, providing a horizontal solution across networks. By introducing network abstraction, the entirety of the Shielded Pool can be leveraged to mask cross-chain transactions.
Currently, Hinkal supports 8 of the highest TVL dApps across 8 major EVM chains, empowering users with versatility and sovereignty over their transactions.
What can I do on Hinkal?
Once users deposit assets into shielded addresses, they can:
Swap them on major DEXs (Odos, Uniswap and 1Inch);
Stake (Convex, Beefy, and Lido);
Provide liquidity to the pools (Curve);
Yield Trade and LP (Pendle);
Lend and borrow (Aave (soon)).
Hinkal comes in three forms:
1) dApp, a self-service application tailored for institutional and retail users;
2) SDK for liquid fund infrastructure, customizable for each fund;
3) SDK for DEXs/staking/lending protocols and wallets for a seamless experience for their users.
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