Aptos has launched Confidential APT on mainnet, giving users an opt-in way to encrypt APT balances and transaction amounts while keeping sender and recipient addresses visible on-chain. The feature is now available through the Petra browser extension as well as Petra mobile on Android and iOS. The rollout adds selective financial privacy without turning Aptos transactions into fully anonymous transfers. Aptos confirmed the expanded Petra availability through its official announcement.
The mainnet capability was enabled through Aptos Governance Proposal #188, formally titled AIP-143: Enable APT for Confidentiality. The proposal has been executed after receiving effectively unanimous support from participating votes. Confidentiality remains optional, meaning users who prefer fully transparent APT transactions can continue using the network without changing their existing workflow.
Confidential $APT comes to the browser. Now available on the Petra extension, alongside Android and iOS via @PetraWallet from @AptosLabs.
Balances and amounts are encrypted onchain. Addresses remain visible. Designed for compliant use cases. Opt-in by design.… https://t.co/1fpmebMBRy
— Aptos (@Aptos) August 27, 2026
Encrypted Amounts Keep Addresses Public
Aptos designed Confidential APT to conceal the value being transferred and the confidential balance held by an account while leaving other transaction information, including wallet addresses, publicly observable. Aptos Labs’ wallet terms explicitly state that the system does not provide identity anonymity. The privacy boundary is therefore financial rather than absolute: observers can see who interacted, but not the confidential amount moved or held.
The protocol uses zero-knowledge proofs to demonstrate that confidential transactions are valid without revealing the hidden amounts. Aptos says this allows validators to verify properties such as the absence of double-spending or unauthorized inflation while preserving the encrypted data. The U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology similarly describes zero-knowledge proofs as cryptographic tools that can establish that a statement is true without disclosing the secret information behind it. That cryptographic model allows privacy and public verification to coexist rather than requiring one to be sacrificed for the other.
Aptos has positioned the feature for use cases where exposing transaction values could create operational risks, including corporate treasury transfers, payroll and trading strategies. Users can also selectively disclose confidential information to trusted parties when necessary. That selective-disclosure model is aimed at organizations that require privacy but may still need audit, compliance or counterparty visibility.
Petra Becomes the Main Access Point
Petra currently provides the primary consumer interface for Confidential APT. Mobile users received access earlier, while the latest release extends the functionality to the browser extension, allowing users to hold and send confidential APT from desktop environments as well. The browser rollout makes the privacy feature available across Petra’s principal wallet interfaces rather than limiting it to a specialized application.
Aptos has described Confidential APT as one layer of a broader privacy roadmap that also includes encrypted mempool concepts and identity tools. Those additional capabilities remain distinct from the feature now available in Petra. The confirmed development is narrower: Aptos users can now opt into encrypted APT balances and transfer amounts on mainnet while their addresses remain publicly traceable.
For institutions and individual users, that design introduces a middle ground between fully transparent transfers and systems built around complete anonymity. Its longer-term significance will depend on whether wallets, financial applications and institutional platforms adopt the confidentiality primitive beyond Petra’s current implementation.