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Encrypted memos
Attach a private note to a shielded payment — only the recipient can read it.
Every shielded payment can carry a memo of up to 512 bytes. It's encrypted along with the payment, so only the recipient — and anyone holding their viewing key — can read it. Your wallet can usually show the memos you sent, too.
People use memos for invoice numbers, order references, a thank-you, or a reply address.
Memos only exist on shielded payments. A transparent address has no memo field, so a memo can't be sent to t1…. Zcan swaps don't attach a memo either, even when they pay a unified address.
The encrypted memo stays on the blockchain permanently. Don't write anything you wouldn't want a future viewing-key holder to read. See ZIP-302 for the format.