There is an old challenge in blockchain: privacy protection and regulatory requirements are often at odds. But Dusk Network has found a new way.

This is a Layer-1 public chain designed specifically for traditional finance. The core innovation lies in using zero-knowledge proof technology to resolve the "fish and bear paw" dilemma — transaction information is kept confidential externally, but regulatory agencies can verify all details with a single click when needed. In other words, asset holders can conceal their transaction activities while being able to prove their identity and asset authenticity to compliant institutions at any time.

This solution is no longer in the conceptual stage. Since the mainnet launched last year, they have helped partner institutions tokenize over €300 million in real assets (such as bonds). The Dutch stock exchange NPEX is a major partner, and assets worth €200 million are currently in the queue to enter.

A major update in January this year was the launch of the DuskEVM mainnet, which means developers can use traditional tools like Solidity to build privacy-focused DeFi applications on this chain, significantly lowering the barrier to ecosystem development. Currently, the ecosystem already includes a liquidity staking platform called Sozu, with a locked-up scale of $25.6 million and an annualized yield of nearly 30%.

From a market perspective, Dusk’s valuation remains relatively modest — the token price is around $0.067, with a fully diluted market cap of about $33 million. But if traditional financial institutions start entering the on-chain world on a large scale, infrastructure that inherently possesses compliance attributes and privacy protection like this could face a different valuation logic. The wave of digitalization of traditional assets is forming, and whoever provides the most suitable technical solution will hold the ticket to entry.