# Unshielding Tokens (Unwrapping) **Unshielding** (or unwrapping) is the process of converting confidential tokens back into their regular, non-confidential form. This is necessary when you want to: * Withdraw to a CEX * Interact with protocols that don't support confidential tokens * Off-ramp to fiat * Make payments where privacy isn't required Unlike shielding (which is instant), unshielding is a **two-phase asynchronous process** due to the need to decrypt your encrypted balance. Total time from start to finish: Usually under 1 minute. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://zaiffer.gitbook.io/wiki/zaiffer/unshielding-tokens-unwrapping.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.