Tornado Cash works by breaking the on-chain link between source & destination addresses. To do so, the protocol needs tokens to be deposited in a pool from one address, then to be withdrawn through another address. This principle remains the same for Tornado Cash Nova.
The great novelty compared to traditional Tornado Cash pools is that **deposited amounts are no longer predefined.** Users can choose a customized amount within the capacity of their wallet balance.
Therefore, if you want to put 0.4 ETH in the pool, you can do it all at once rather than making four separate transactions with the traditional 0.1 ETH pool.
* The first step is to log in Tornado Cash Nova through a Metamask account.
* Your account is not set yet (button `Set up account` available on the top right corner). To set up your account, you can either:
* **Click on `Set up account`**: your logged-in address will be registered to Nova without needing to deposit any tokens. This action will enable you to receive transfers or deposits within the pool from any another address.
* **Choose your logged-in address as a recepient address**: by depositing tokens into the pool, your account (with its shielded address & shielded key) will be automatically created. The deposited funds will come top up your shielded balance.
* **Choose another registered address:** tokens will be added to the shielded balance of the chosen recipient address. This recipient address needs to be a shielded address that was formerly registered to the pool.
When you log in, the `Recipient address` is filled by default with your logged-in address. You can change it depending on how you want to use the tool.
If you set a new account, you will be able to log into the pool later, check your Tornado shielded balance or receive shielded transfers by using either your shielded address or shielded key.
_All information about how to use these elements to log in or where to find your shielded key are available on_ [logging-in-tornado-cash-nova.md](connect-wallet.md "mention")_._
* the initially funded amount & the withdrawn amount are exactly the same,
* the funded & withdrawn amounts can be easily linked through a sum.
_For instance, a deposit of 0.42 ETH can be linked to a withdrawal of exactly 0.42 ETH or two times 0.21 ETH, which might compromise anonymity. However, with a withdrawal of 0.391 ETH, privacy is better preserved as there is no obvious link between the 0.42 & 0.391 amounts._
For cheaper transactions, Gnosis Chain (formerly xDAI Chain) is used as an alternative. To this end, a bridge is used between ETH from the Mainnet and WETH from Gnosis Chain.
