Imagine stepping into an exclusive high-security venue that requires identity verification, but instead of pulling out a card with your home address and ID number, you stand in front of a magical "digital mirror." The mirror only shows the gatekeeper a green light signal: "Verified." Nothing about who you are, what you do, or your assets is involved.

This "fact-only verification, privacy intact" experience is exactly the direction that Dusk is exploring in the Web3 space.

In recent years, we've seen too many news reports about data breaches. Social accounts, transaction records, biometric information are being sold on the dark web like vegetables. Blockchain was supposed to solve this problem, but the transparent on-chain ledger instead exposed all privacy details. Dusk's emergence is like putting an "invisible cloak" on every digital identity, using zero-knowledge proofs to completely change the rules of identity verification.

The core technology of this project is a set of identity protocols called Citadel.

If traditional KYC (Know Your Customer) is "completely open verification," then Citadel is like building a "digital fitting room." It uses zero-knowledge proofs to allow you to demonstrate compliance with certain conditions without revealing any raw data. For example, when participating in a physical asset project open only to European users, you don't need to submit a scanned passport or bank statement—just generate a cryptographic proof to show "I meet the criteria"—it's that simple.