Documentation
Shield Address
What is the Monero Shield address for
Shield address
What it is
Every Monero wallet has a shield address — a hidden subaddress Firewallet uses for routing, conversions, and payouts. It is separate from your visible Primary and extra receive addresses.
Firewallet also maintains a hidden shield refund subaddress used only when an outbound swap is declined and the exchanger returns Monero. Both are shown on the wallet page as separate cards (balance and transactions only — addresses stay hidden).
Subaddress layout
| Index | Role |
|---|---|
| 0 | Shield (operational) |
| 1 | Shield refund (outbound swap refunds only) |
| 2+ | Primary and extra receive addresses |
What uses it
- Inbound conversions — XMR from deposit-linked swaps is paid to the shield address
- Shield moves — when a visible receive address crosses your trigger threshold, its XMR is moved to the shield address first
- Outbound routing — withdrawals and balance sweeps spend from the shield address
- Outbound refunds — if an exchanger returns XMR from a declined payout swap, funds land on the shield refund subaddress and are swept to shield
Your visible addresses are for receiving from people and services you choose to share an address with.
Shield refund
The shield refund address is never shown, copied, or exposed as a QR code. You see its balance and transactions on a separate card on the Monero wallet page. Returned XMR is swept back to your shield balance automatically.
Primary vs shield
| Shield / shield refund | Primary / extra addresses | |
|---|---|---|
| Visible in app | Balance + txs only (address hidden) | Yes (address, QR, rename) |
| Used for inbound swaps | Shield only | No |
| User can share for deposits | No | Yes |
| Rotation | Shield only (optional) | Optional |
Rotation
You can enable rotation on the shield address the same way as on receive addresses. When rotation is on, Firewallet periodically archives the current shield subaddress and provisions a new one at the same index for future inbound and outbound activity.
Rotation on the shield address only affects the hidden routing wallet — not your visible Primary or extra receive addresses. The shield refund subaddress is never rotated.
Related
- Address rotation — how rotation works across supported coins
- Shield balance payout — payout % and balance sweeps from shield XMR