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General FAQ

What's the motivation and purpose behind Mirage?

Mirage was created to address a fundamental gap between traditional financial systems and public blockchains: financial privacy.

In the traditional financial system, banks provide privacy as part of their core infrastructure. Companies rely on banks for cash management, enabling them to send payroll, pay suppliers, manage treasury transfers, and settle transactions without revealing sensitive financial information to the public. This confidentiality protects business relationships, competitive strategies, and operational security.

Public blockchains, however, operate very differently. By design, all transactions are publicly visible, including wallet balances, transaction amounts, and counterparties. While this transparency provides strong auditability, it also makes it difficult for businesses, institutions, and even individuals to use stablecoins for everyday financial activity without exposing sensitive information.

For stablecoins to achieve widespread adoption as digital cash in a non-custodial, trustless, and peer-to-peer environment, users need the ability to transact privately without relying on centralized intermediaries.

Mirage aims to provide this missing layer of infrastructure. Its purpose is to enable confidential stablecoin transfers directly on public blockchains, allowing wallets, payment platforms, exchanges, and decentralized applications to offer financial privacy while preserving the open and self-custodial nature of blockchain networks. The protocol is designed to work across different blockchains and Layer 2 networks, allowing users and organizations to transact privately on whichever networks they choose.

At the same time, Mirage is designed with strong compliance considerations in mind. The system incorporates safeguards intended to reduce misuse by illicit actors, including wallet screening and transaction monitoring mechanisms that help identify links to sanctioned entities, criminal activity, or compromised funds. Mirage also supports cooperation with law enforcement and investigative processes where required, aiming to balance financial privacy with responsible use of peer-to-peer technology.

How does Mirage differ from other privacy solutions?

Most privacy systems (mixers, privacy pools) rely on pools or shared smart contracts where funds are mixed together. Because these contracts are public and identifiable, observers can easily detect when someone interacts with a privacy protocol or tool. Privacy coins, in contrast, obscure transaction details at the protocol level to ensure every transaction is private by default, making them untraceable rather than just pseudonymous.

Mirage takes a different approach:

  • Segregation of funds: each private transaction uses a unique temporary escrow contract
  • Undetectable record: transactions appear similar to ordinary stablecoin transfers
  • Native: no need to swap stablecoins to a different privacy layer 1 or 2

The system attempts to make it impossible to prove that a privacy protocol was used. This allows Mirage users to benefit from privacy without the stigma or regulatory exposure associated with known privacy contracts, or privacy coins.

Is Mirage non-custodial?

Yes, Mirage and participating nodes don't hold funds in custody. Instead:

  • Funds are deposited into temporary escrow contracts deployed by the user
  • Execution of the payment is verified on-chain via cryptographic proof
  • No trusted party must approve the transfer

Nodes only execute transactions and receive reimbursement from escrow contracts after proof of correct execution. The user can withdraw funds from the smart contract at any time without needing any permissions, as long as a node has not already submitted a security deposit to finish the transaction.

How long does it take to generate private transactions?

The following time indications represent the time for the network of nodes to process and settle the transaction:

  • Ethereum mainnet: less than ~90 seconds
  • Layer 2 networks (e.g. Base or Arbitrum): under ~6 seconds
  • Tempo (Testnet): under ~4 seconds

Actual processing time depends on network block times and congestion.

Can I use Mirage directly in wallets or dApps?

Yes, Mirage is designed to be integrated into wallets, protocols, and applications. Integrations can be implemented through a simple JavaScript SDK, while all sensitive transaction data is encrypted locally on the user's device before being sent to the network's nodes.

What information remains visible on-chain?

Mirage is designed so that the blockchain activity looks like an ordinary stablecoin transfer.

Observers may see:

  • A deposit into a temporary contract
  • A standard transfer from another address to the recipient
  • A later withdrawal from the escrow contract

Because each transaction uses a unique contract and does not interact with a recognizable privacy pool, observers cannot determine that a privacy protocol was used without spending significant resources on identifying a specific target.

What information does Mirage collect?

As of the upcoming Beta release, when connecting a wallet to the Mirage web application, the system will perform wallet screening, risk scoring, and analysis of the origin of funds through a compliance partner integration, allowing Mirage to ensure compliance with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT). This allows Mirage to gatekeep its use from illicit users.

Is there a liquidity risk associated with using Mirage?

No, because the escrow contract only reimburses the funds to the node after the transaction is verified.

Mirage transactions rely on nodes that provide their own liquidity to execute transfers. Nodes must maintain a minimum amount of stablecoin liquidity (e.g. USDC) in order to execute user requests.

This means:

  • Nodes temporarily front liquidity for payments
  • The escrow contract later reimburses them after verification

If there is not enough liquidity in the network of nodes, the funds remain in the escrow contract available to withdraw or try again at any later time.

What are the fees associated with a Mirage transaction?

  • Node fees: the tip the user includes to incentivize nodes to process the transaction
  • Platform fees: 50 bps (0.5%) of the transacted volume in stablecoins
  • Network fees: such as gas fees on Ethereum