Use Privacy Protocols Like Railgun

This content summarizes commonly known, high-level best practices related to privacy protocols such as Railgun and TornadoCash.

It is provided for general educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, financial, or compliance advice.

1. Never pay Railgun fees from a wallet that funded the shield

• The wallet that deposits into Railgun must never be used to pay withdrawal gas.

• Treat the funding wallet as permanently tainted once it touches the shield.

• Do not reuse it for anything related to the withdrawal.

Rule: Funding wallet ≠ fee payer ≠ receiver.

2. If you want to pay the fee yourself, use a decoupled, pre funded fee payer

• Prepare a fee payer wallet long before any Railgun interaction.

• Fund it from an unrelated source, different timing, different amounts.

• Let it sit idle for days or weeks before use.

This breaks timing correlation.

3. Avoid tight timing between deposit and withdrawal

• Do not withdraw shortly after depositing. Just sitting there in Railgun for a long time. It is very safe.

• Wait long enough to blend into the anonymity set.

• Time variance matters as much as amount variance.

Bad: deposit → withdraw within hours Better: deposit → wait days or longer → withdraw

4. Use common, non unique amounts

• Avoid precise or unusual values like 0.099248 ETH.

• Use rounded, common denominations that many users use.

• Unique amounts act as fingerprints.

5. Do not immediately forward withdrawn funds

• Never withdraw and instantly fund another wallet.

• Add delays, intermediate steps, or additional shielding.

• Immediate forwarding creates deterministic links.

6. Social media poses significant risks.

For goodness’ sake, do not post your transaction on X right after you make it. That is basically doxxing yourself. Using your own X account while your public addresses are already known is not wise. 🫠