Struct UnifiedAddress

pub struct UnifiedAddress { /* private fields */ }

A multi-protocol Zcash address that can contain components from different Zcash protocols.

UnifiedAddress represents Zcash’s next-generation addressing format that allows bundling multiple receiver types (transparent, Sapling, Orchard) into a single encoded string. This enables wallets to generate one address that can receive funds via any supported protocol while hiding the underlying complexity from users.

Zcash Concept Relation

Unified Addresses (UAs) were introduced in ZIP-316 and deployed with NU5 (Orchard network upgrade). They address several limitations of individual address types:

• Simplified User Experience: Users see a single address (starting with “u1…”) rather than dealing with multiple address types
• Forward Compatibility: New receiver types can be added without breaking existing UAs
• Protocol Agnostic: Senders don’t need to choose which protocol to use; their wallet can select the most appropriate one based on capability
• Progressive Privacy: Transactions automatically use the best privacy technology available to both sender and receiver

Each UA contains one or more “receivers” from different protocols (transparent, Sapling, and/or Orchard). When funds are sent to a UA, the sender’s wallet selects the most private protocol that both wallets support.

Data Preservation

During wallet migration, the following components are preserved:

• UA string: The full unified address string when available
• Diversifier index: Used to deterministically derive addresses from keys
• HD path information: For addresses derived from hierarchical deterministic wallets

Implementation Note

In Zcash wallets, unified addresses are not typically stored directly in wallet.dat files. Instead, wallets store the metadata needed to derive UAs at runtime:

• Diversifier indices
• Information about which receiver types to include
• References to the keys used to derive the addresses

Examples

// Create a new unified address
let mut ua = UnifiedAddress::new("u1exampleaddress".to_string());

// Set a diversifier index (used in address derivation)
let diversifier_data = [0u8; 11];
let diversifier_index = Blob::new(diversifier_data);
ua.set_diversifier_index(diversifier_index);

Implementations

impl UnifiedAddress

pub fn new(address: String) -> Self

Create a new UnifiedAddress with the given address string

pub fn from_parts( address: String, diversifier_index: Option<Blob<11>>, hd_derivation_path: Option<String>, ) -> Self

Creates a new UnifiedAddress from its constituent parts.

pub fn address(&self) -> &str

Get the full unified address string

pub fn set_address(&mut self, address: String)

Set the unified address string

pub fn diversifier_index(&self) -> Option<&Blob<11>>

Get the diversifier index if available

pub fn set_diversifier_index(&mut self, diversifier_index: Blob<11>)

Set the diversifier index

pub fn hd_derivation_path(&self) -> Option<&str>

Get the HD derivation path for this address, if available

pub fn set_hd_derivation_path(&mut self, path: String)

Set the HD derivation path for this address

Trait Implementations

impl Clone for UnifiedAddress

fn clone(&self) -> UnifiedAddress

Returns a copy of the value.

fn clone_from(&mut self, source: &Self)

Performs copy-assignment from source.

impl Debug for UnifiedAddress

fn fmt(&self, f: &mut Formatter<'_>) -> Result

Formats the value using the given formatter.

impl From<UnifiedAddress> for Envelope

fn from(value: UnifiedAddress) -> Self

Converts to this type from the input type.

impl PartialEq for UnifiedAddress

fn eq(&self, other: &UnifiedAddress) -> bool

Tests for self and other values to be equal, and is used by ==.

fn ne(&self, other: &Rhs) -> bool

Tests for !=. The default implementation is almost always sufficient, and should not be overridden without very good reason.

impl TryFrom<Envelope> for UnifiedAddress

type Error = Error

The type returned in the event of a conversion error.

fn try_from(envelope: Envelope) -> Result<Self, Self::Error>

Performs the conversion.

impl StructuralPartialEq for UnifiedAddress