> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://whitepaper.lacunalabs.io/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://whitepaper.lacunalabs.io/how-lacuna-works/shielded-pools.md).

# Shielded Pools & The Anonymity Set

A shielded pool is a shared, on-chain pool of private notes. Privacy comes from the crowd: the more deposits and users share a pool, the larger the **anonymity set** — the set of deposits any given withdrawal could plausibly have come from.

## The Idea

* Everyone shields into the same pool.
* Withdrawals and transfers are proven with zero-knowledge proofs.
* Because outputs aren't linked to inputs, an observer can't tell which deposit funded which spend.

A larger anonymity set means stronger privacy for everyone in it.

> **Roadmap:** Growing the anonymity set and the underlying Merkle-tree commitment structure is an active priority — see the [Roadmap](/resources/roadmap.md).


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