# What is a viewing key?

A viewing key lets someone see the history of a private account without being able to spend from it, for example to show an accountant or an auditor exactly what happened.

## Why it exists

Privacy does not have to mean nobody can ever see anything. A viewing key lets the owner choose who sees their history, and how much, while everyone else still sees nothing.

## In Redacted

Redacted’s version is a read-only key, coming soon. It will let you give an auditor, a tax advisor or a court view access to your account history without any power to spend. A disclosure report and Proof of Innocence are coming soon too.

More: [Compliance](https://redacted.gg/docs/protocol/compliance.md)

## Related terms

- [Stealth address](https://redacted.gg/glossary/stealth-address.md): A stealth address is a one-time address created for a single payment, so payments to the same person cannot be linked on-chain, while the sender only needs the receiver’s public address.
- [Shielded pool](https://redacted.gg/glossary/shielded-pool.md): A shielded pool holds funds as private notes inside a smart contract. Deposits and withdrawals are public, but what happens inside is proved with zero-knowledge proofs and does not reveal who owns what.
- [Self-custody](https://redacted.gg/glossary/self-custody.md): Self-custody means you hold the keys to your funds yourself, so no company can freeze, lose or move them on your behalf.

Sources: [Zcash protocol specification](https://zips.z.cash/protocol/protocol.pdf)
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Page: https://redacted.gg/glossary/viewing-key/