2026-01-18 20:22:27

As the New Year 2026 begins, the blockchain community quietly welcomes an interesting piece of news — Dusk's EVM-compatible mainnet officially launched in the second week of January.

This project is a bit different. Since its establishment in 2018, Dusk has been forging its own path — not following the high TPS race, not copying Ethereum's old routines, but instead making privacy protection and regulatory auditability its core DNA. In simple terms, it aims to find a balance between two seemingly contradictory needs: protecting business data privacy on one hand, and meeting KYC/AML compliance requirements on the other.

So, what does Dusk do? It uses two cutting-edge technologies — zero-knowledge proofs and homomorphic encryption — to achieve on-chain transaction privacy while still leaving an audit trail for regulators. This is almost unique in scenarios where traditional finance goes on-chain.

Now that the EVM compatibility layer is live, it’s a significant milestone. For developers, the barrier has been lowered — they can continue writing contracts in Solidity, using familiar toolchains, and deploy directly to the Dusk mainnet. All transactions automatically inherit the underlying privacy features, no need to reinvent the wheel. Plus, with the Hedger protocol, compliant private transactions can run within the EVM environment, protecting user data privacy while providing complete proofs during audits.

In other words, institutional-grade applications that previously could only run on permissioned chains now have a new option. From the technical framework to practical implementation, Dusk has taken the right step.

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SerRugResistant

· 01-21 18:54

Zero-knowledge proofs combined with homomorphic encryption—this combo is indeed quite extraordinary. But can it really be implemented in practice? --- Privacy and compliance have always been at odds. If Dusk truly succeeds, institutional-grade applications will be laughing all the way. --- EVM compatibility sounds easy, but the developer ecosystem is the real key. Having tools alone is useless if no one uses them. --- Honestly, this idea should have been thought of long ago—maintaining privacy while passing audits. Has the ceiling for compliant chains been broken? --- Hedger protocol sounds impressive, but is the audit channel truly reliable... --- I believe in not competing with TPS. Focusing on privacy is indeed a niche, let's see how they push for implementation. --- New options for institutional applications? Sounds good, but it all depends on who will actually use it.

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BankruptcyArtist

· 01-21 09:21

Wow, this is true innovation. Not following the trend means you're destined to suffer losses. The combination of privacy and compliance... finally someone thought of it. The set of zero-knowledge proofs is really awesome, but I wonder if the ecosystem can get off the ground. Dusk's recent moves are quite impressive; let's see if they can attract institutional investors. Isn't it a bit late to take the step of EVM compatibility? I am optimistic about the direction of compliant privacy transactions; traditional finance should move in this direction. Solidity developers can jump right in; this should make adoption much easier. I'm a bit looking forward to the upcoming ecosystem projects, but we also need to watch out for unfinished projects. Can privacy and regulation coexist? Dusk is seriously working on this seemingly impossible task. However, since the code isn't open source, I still want to see the implementation details. This is what real differentiated competition looks like, not the brainless race to stack TPS.

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MemeCoinSavant

· 01-18 20:52

ngl the privacy-compliance balance thesis here is actually pretty based... according to my behavioral analysis of institutional adoption patterns, this hedger protocol thing might genuinely move the needle

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NFTRegretful

· 01-18 20:52

Keeping a low profile in doing things is awesome; no need to shout every day about how fast you are. I think Dusk's approach is correct; privacy and compliance are really not mutually exclusive issues. Zero-knowledge proofs combined with homomorphic encryption—this combo is indeed interesting. Institutional-level applications finally have a way forward. Once EVM compatibility is in place, developers will have a much better experience, directly reducing development costs. But honestly, it still depends on whether the ecosystem can truly keep up; no matter how good the technology is, if no one uses it, it's pointless. This is the kind of blockchain I want to see—not the kind that gets caught up in speed competitions every day. Balancing privacy and auditability is easier to say than to do; it requires real business scenarios to validate its effectiveness. It seems that institutional finance might be the next growth point; it's much more interesting compared to pure DEXs.

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PortfolioAlert

· 01-18 20:49

Zero-knowledge proofs combined with homomorphic encryption—this is truly a masterstroke. Privacy and compliance are well balanced, unlike some projects that just shout slogans. EVM compatibility scores a point; developers definitely save effort, and the ecosystem is building up quickly. But the real question is whether it can be successfully implemented and run smoothly. Dusk's approach seems aimed at targeting institutional-grade applications. Privacy plus auditability—traditional finance might really need something like this. Eight years without following the trend, still maintaining its own style. It all depends on whether the ecosystem can truly explode. It's still early days, and the risks are not small. How mature is the technology of zero-knowledge proofs? Will user experience be compromised? It feels like just another mainnet launch news. Actual users and applications are the only true tests. Waiting for the data.

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SoliditySlayer

· 01-18 20:48

Zero-knowledge proofs combined with an audit channel, this idea does have some potential. But whether actual users will buy in remains to be seen. This is very different from those projects that only hype privacy; surprisingly, it can even satisfy regulators. Dusk's move is indeed clever, with EVM compatibility significantly lowering the barrier to entry, and reducing developers' migration costs directly. Wait, is Hedger protocol reliable? It seems I haven't heard many real-world cases about it. Privacy transactions are indeed in demand, but will permissioned chain users actively switch over? That’s a bit uncertain. It sounds good in theory, but implementation is the key. Let’s look at the data.

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InscriptionGriller

· 01-18 20:42

Hey, Dusk's recent move is quite interesting. Isn't it just another high-TPS fantasy show to fleece the newbies?

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MelonField

· 01-18 20:40

This is the real deal—privacy and compliance go hand in hand, not just talk.

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MeltdownSurvivalist

· 01-18 20:24

Zero-knowledge proofs combined with homomorphic encryption—no one has really tried this combo before. Privacy and compliance, the classic pair, have been harmonized by them.

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