> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.bridg.now/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Private bridging

> Restrict routing to venues that do not publish the link between sender and recipient.

Most bridges put both of your addresses in one transaction, on chain, forever. `privacy: true` on a quote restricts routing to venues that do not publish that link. 8 of the 36 venues qualify.

```mermaid theme={null}
flowchart TD
    Q["Quote"] --> M{"privacy"}
    M -->|false| A["Every venue on the corridor"]
    M -->|true| F["8 venues that do not publish the link"]
    A --> R["Ranked table"]
    F --> R
```

## What qualifies

Each venue was checked against one question, using only its own documentation: does a transfer through it break the on-chain link between the sending and receiving address? Where the documentation was ambiguous the answer is no.

| `privacyModel`  | Meaning                                                                                     | Venues                                                    |
| --------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------- |
| `unlinkable`    | The link is broken by construction: a shielded hop or a confidential settlement layer.      | Husher, NEAR Intents                                      |
| `custodial-hop` | The on-chain trail stops at the venue's deposit address. The venue itself knows both sides. | ChangeNOW, SimpleSwap, SideShift, SWFT, Layerswap, Socket |
| `none`          | An ordinary bridge. Not offered under `privacy`.                                            | the other 28                                              |

`GET /bridge/venues` reports the model per venue.

## The two unlinkable venues

**Husher** routes the swap through a Monero or Zcash shielded transaction. About 1% and about five minutes on top of the normal route. Husher's own terms: it is not a mixer, traceability is reduced rather than eliminated, and the exchange providers behind it can apply their own compliance checks.

**NEAR Intents** settles a private request as a confidential intent on a permissioned shard with no public explorer; the payout arrives as an ordinary transfer from a solver. No extra cost or time stated. The shard supports selective disclosure for auditors.

## What it does not promise

* Amount and timing still correlate at the edges. A distinctive sum leaving one chain and arriving on another minutes later is visible without touching the protocol.
* An exchange desk keeps the pairing between deposit and payout and can ask for identity after funds have moved.
* Nothing is mixed. This reduces traceability; it does not guarantee anonymity.

## In the API

* `privacy: true` on `POST /bridge/quote`. It is carried on the quote through `POST /bridge/build`.
* Public venues are dropped before pricing, each listed in `rejected` as `privacy_venue_required`.
* When no qualifying venue serves the corridor the response carries `emptyReason: "no_private_route"`.
* `GET /bridge/routes?privacy=true` lists the qualifying venues for a corridor.
* Building a public venue against a private decision is `409 privacy_venue_required`.