Private DEX
The Private DEX is a research product for shielded swaps on Terp: you spend one or more private notes, the public pool numbers on chain change, and you receive a new private note (and optional change). A private note is a committed balance — amount and owner stay private; the chain sees commitments and spent markers.
This is not the Private Bridge. The bridge admits value into notes. The Private DEX trades notes that already exist.
Why two products
Bridge mints notes from a checked Bitcoin deposit. DEX trades notes already in the set. After a swap, reserve deltas make approximate trade size public; amounts inside notes stay private.
Who it is for
For users
Trade without publishing note amounts or which notes link together. Pool sizes stay visible.
For engineers
Settle math, reject codes, and verify modes.
Lab versus public venue
| State | Fact |
|---|---|
| Lab | Swap math and CosmWasm settle run in research / local deploys. CosmWasm is the smart-contract runtime on Cosmos chains. |
| Not a public venue | No shipped public mainnet pool network for this product. |
| Fail closed | Production-style config without proof verification rejects settle. It does not silently accept. |
Shielded swap at a glance
You spend a note → pool counters on chain change → a new note comes out. Your minimum out is slippage protection: if the quote is worse, the swap rejects and nothing moves.
Read next
- How it works — spend, pool move, note out, slippage
- For users — what you see vs what the chain shows
- For engineers — formulas, reject codes, verify modes
- Honesty — what this is and is not
- Glossary — product nouns