# User guide

The Privacy Portal is COTI V2's user-facing `dApp` for interacting with tokens on COTI, letting you bridge between Public tokens and [PrivateERC20](https://docs.coti.io/coti-documentation/coti-privacy-portal/developer-guide/privateerc20.sol) tokens.

It allows you to work with two types of tokens:

## Public Tokens

Public Tokens behave like standard blockchain tokens:

* balances are visible on-chain
* transactions are transparent

## Private Tokens

Private Tokens add an extra layer of privacy:

* balances are stored encrypted on-chain
* you decrypt and view them locally using your wallet and the COTI MetaMask Snap

This helps keep your financial data confidential.

## What you’ll learn

This guide will walk you through how to:

* connect your wallet to the Privacy Portal
* bridge public tokens into private tokens
* send and receive private transactions
* view your balances securely

## Why use the Privacy Portal?

The Privacy Portal lets you move your tokens into a private state, giving you more control over what information is visible on-chain while keeping sensitive data confidential.