Understand private balances
How your Pulse balance differs from the tokens displayed in your wallet.
Two places to keep tokens
Section titled “Two places to keep tokens”You can have tokens in your wallet and tokens in your Pulse private balance. Think of them as two separate pockets. Putting tokens in one pocket does not make them appear in the other.
Before you approve an action, check which pocket the tokens will come from and where they will go. Pulse calls this the balance source and the receive option.
What makes the balance private?
Section titled “What makes the balance private?”Pulse keeps track of your private tokens using records called notes. A note says who owns some tokens and how many. It can hold amounts of up to two different tokens.
The public network keeps proof of these notes, called commitments, rather than showing everyone a list of each person’s private balance.
What happens when you spend?
Section titled “What happens when you spend?”Think of paying with a banknote and getting change. Pulse uses a note and makes new notes to record the result. You do not have to manage these notes yourself.
A marker called a nullifier stops the old note from being used again. It does this without showing the note’s private contents.
- BeforeYou have tokens in private notes
- You approve an actionThe old note is used once
- AfterNew notes record the result
What stays public?
Section titled “What stays public?”Moving tokens through the bridge does not hide the Cardano part of the transfer. People can still see that part on Cardano. Always check the network, receiving address, and privacy choices before you approve.