Shielding with ZelCore
For Zcash and Zcash-forked coins (like ZelCash), freshly minted (coinbase) coins must be shielded to make them spendable. Your ZelNode rewards are received by you as coinbase coin, as they are sent to you directly from each block find. The shielding action will send your coinbase coin to a private address (Z-address) of your choosing, which will shield them. From the Z-address, you can send the shielded coins back to a transparent address (T-address) of your choosing, like your light ZelCash address in ZelCore, and your rewards are now spendable and can Tx anywhere.
This rewards distribution method was selected as it is a completely trustless system; from the moment of the block find, you as the node operator are always in control of your rewards without having to trust an intermediary. For example, there are projects that will shield your rewards for you, but first your rewards must be sent to a specific address that you do not control, the shielding is performed, and the coin is distributed back to you. This method is highly centralized and needing to trust a 3rd party goes against the ethos of the Zel Project. In the future, ZelCore will continually add features to make shielding easier for the operator.
Note: Coinbase coins require 100 confirmations from block find to mature. The shielding process will take 2 confirms, and then you can send your rewards to an address of your choosing, which will take another 2 confirms.
Step 1
Launch full node from light wallet, then click on 'Receiving Address'
Step 2
Click on 'New Sapling Address'
Step 3
Click on 'Private Key' and make multiple backups
Step 4
Click on 'Tools'
Step 5
'Wallet Management'
Step 6
'Shield Coinbase'
Step 7
Insert private address from Step 3 and click on 'Shield'
A NEW Z ADDRESS DOESN'T HAVE TO BE MADE EACH TIME, YOU CAN USE THE SAME ADDRESS AGAIN BY CLICKING 'SEND' LIKE STEPS 9 AND 10 THAT ARE SHOWN BELOW
Step 8
Check transaction on explorer by clicking 'Show in explorer'
Step 9
Click on 'Send' if you want to transfer your rewards to a transparent address (full node or light address)
Step 10
Select your z address in the 'From' section, and use the down arrow in the 'To' section to pick a t address
Make a new transparent address when sending your shielded coins to a full node t address, or you can use an existing one in your light wallet. It's not necessary to generate a new one for every reward, just don't use existing transparent addresses that are associated with the tx id of a ZelNode.
ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR WALLET.DAT AND SAVE PRIVATE KEY WHEN GENERATING NEW ADDRESSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!