Most blockchains expose all transaction and balance information publicly. That’s not an embarrassing secret, that’s just how they were designed. With Zcash you have the option to keep your financial information private (shielded), or transparent and available to the public like most other blockchains. Storing and transacting with shielded Zcash (ZEC) gives users more control over their assets and can protect them from fraudsters and other ill-intentioned actors.