Instant exchange aggregator Houdini Swap has introduced Houdini Pay, a new service designed to enhance privacy for cryptocurrency transactions. The platform allows users, particularly freelancers and businesses, to receive payments without exposing their public wallet addresses, breaking the direct on-chain link between counterparties.

Houdini Pay works by generating shareable payment links and supports over 4,000 digital assets across multiple blockchains. The goal is to provide a layer of transactional privacy that addresses growing security and business concerns tied to the transparent nature of public ledgers.

The Problem with Public Wallets

In the world of crypto, a public address is an open book. It can reveal a user’s current balance, complete transaction history, and the services they interact with. Houdini Swap argues this transparency creates significant risks. For instance, the company claims to have seen cases where clients “lowball freelancers after checking their wallet balances” or cut their rates after seeing their funds.

Beyond business negotiations, public financial data can also be exploited by competitors tracking supplier payments to reverse-engineer strategies. More alarmingly, the visibility of large balances has been linked to a rise in physical threats. So-called “$5 wrench attacks,” where criminals use force to coerce victims into transferring their assets, are becoming a serious concern. The increasing frequency of kidnappings and physical aggression toward known crypto holders prompted France’s interior minister to meet with industry professionals earlier this year after a violent incident in Paris.

A New Layer of Transactional Privacy

Houdini Pay positions itself as a “compliant privacy infrastructure” that never takes custody of or accesses user funds. By obscuring the direct connection between sender and receiver, it aims to protect users from unwanted financial scrutiny and potential threats.

While the service offers a practical layer of privacy, it’s distinct from platforms that provide deeper cryptographic anonymity. Services like zkBob, for example, use zero-knowledge proofs to cryptographically hide the sender, receiver, and transaction amounts on-chain. However, these more complex solutions often support a narrower range of assets, whereas Houdini Pay prioritizes broad compatibility and ease of use.