The post Stellar Private Payments Goes Open-Source, Changing Everything appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

Stellar open-sources its private payments system using Groth16 zero-knowledge proofs, reshaping how institutions handle compliant, shielded transactions in 2026. Stellar just moved. Private payments, fully open-sourced. Zero-knowledge proofs, configurable compliance, shielded transfers built for real financial flows, not whitepaper experiments. This is not a roadmap update. The code is live. RektHQ on X confirmed the development, announcing a brand content series with @StellarOrg covering privacy infrastructure. First topic: Stellar’s X-Ray Protocol and the open-sourcing of Stellar Private Payments. As RektHQ posted on X, “configurable privacy is becoming the baseline for systems that expect to earn trust.” The Code That Just Changed the Privacy Game Stellar Private Payments brings shielded deposits, transfers, and withdrawals to the Stellar network. It runs on Groth16 zero-knowledge proofs. Browser-based proving runs client-side. Transactions stay confidential. Compliance does not disappear. It works differently. Association Set Providers, or ASPs, maintain membership and non-membership Merkle trees. Pool operators enforce anti-misuse safeguards through proof systems, not public surveillance. The transaction stays private. The compliance still holds. That distinction is where most privacy systems fall apart. Stellar’s approach keeps both intact. Must Read: Binance Reports 97% Drop in Sanctions Exposure Since 2024 X-Ray Protocol: Built to Filter, Not Hide The X-Ray Protocol sits under all of it. It introduces BN254, an elliptic curve used across the zero-knowledge space, and Poseidon, a hash function built specifically for zero-knowledge proofs. These are not end-user features. They’re foundational cryptographic components. Without protocol-level support, developers work around privacy, patching it with custom cryptography, heavy off-chain logic, and compatibility code. That path increases cost, complexity, and risk. X-Ray cuts that out at the base layer. As documented in the rekt.news research piece from February 23, 2026, the design philosophy is deliberate: privacy is opt-in, configurable, implemented at the application layer. A token can be confidential…

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Filed under: News - @ February 25, 2026 3:24 am