In the crypto market, you almost hear the same voices every day: faster transaction speeds, cheaper fees, better user experience. Projects compete to pile up performance metrics, fearing to fall behind. But one issue is often overlooked by most—what should blockchain truly serve?

Recently, I took a deep look at a project called Dusk and realized that some teams have a completely different approach. They are not following the trend of chasing retail hot spots; instead, they are targeting a steeper but more promising direction: compliant privacy financial infrastructure.

It might sound a bit dull at first, but looking at it from another perspective makes it clear—what truly moves large funds and institutional participation is never short-term narrative hype, but whether it can be "compatible" with the existing financial system. Since 2018, Dusk has been focusing on this, incorporating "auditable privacy" into its underlying design. In today’s context, this is obviously visionary.

Their solution is not simply saying "we protect privacy," but proposing a more pragmatic logic: privacy does not mean a black box, but something controllable, auditable, and compliant. Technologically, through a combination of ZK proofs and homomorphic encryption, they designed the Hedger mechanism, allowing transaction data to be both privacy-protected and auditable by authorized parties when necessary. This is crucial for scenarios involving the on-chain of real assets like securities, bonds, and funds.

What’s even more convincing is the real-world implementation: they have partnered with the regulated Dutch exchange NPEX, gradually bringing over €300M of real assets onto the chain. This is not just a proof of concept; it’s genuine capital and institutional trust.