Dusk Network is doing some cool things with their mainnet and EVM integration. This is a deal for people who care about privacy when it comes to blockchain technology. Dusk Network is special because it is about helping finance companies follow the rules.
The people behind Dusk Network have been working on this project for six years. It has been up and running for a year now. This is a milestone, for them as we start the year 2026. Dusk Network is making a name for itself in the world of blockchain because it is focused on keeping things private. The thing that really gets people excited is the EVM part of Dusk, which is called DuskEVM. It is almost ready to launch on the mainnet. This article is going to look at the details of Dusks mainnet and its EVM. We will talk about how it's built and what features it has. We will also look at what this means for finance, which is also called DeFi and real-world assets which are called RWAs. Dusk is trying to connect the things that institutions need with the transparency that blockchain has. It is doing this in a way that puts privacy first. Dusks main goal is to make sure that people can use blockchain without giving up their privacy and that is a deal, for Dusk and its EVM, DuskEVM.First lets talk about what Dusk Network's all about. Dusk Networks main goal is to provide a blockchain that keeps peoples information private. This blockchain is called Dusk Network. It is made for financial markets that have to follow rules. Dusk Network helps big institutions turn assets into tokens and trade them on the blockchain. At the time Dusk Network makes sure these institutions follow the rules that exist in the real world like the rules set by Europes MiCA framework. Dusk Network is really good, at helping institutions do things on the blockchain while still following the rules. Dusk is different from blockchain systems like Ethereum. Ethereum is very open. Everyone can see what is happening.. Dusk is not like that. It is also not like some coins that are too secret and make regulators suspicious. Dusk finds a ground. It lets people make transactions without everyone seeing what they are doing. It is still possible to check that everything is okay.
This works because of some smart computer tricks like Zero-Knowledge Proofs and Fully Homomorphic Encryption. These tools help keep peoples information private. They also help show that people are following the rules without giving away any secrets.
The main Dusk network started to go at the end of 2024. There are important steps that will happen one after the other and this will continue into early 2025. Dusk transactions will be confidential. They will also be auditable which is what Dusk is all, about: Dusk transactions and the way Dusk works. According to official announcements, the Dusk mainnet—primarily referring to DuskDS, the settlement and data availability layer—officially produced its first immutable block on January 7, 2025.
This happened after the Mainnet Onramp contract was activated on December 20 2024. The Mainnet Onramp contract allowed people to move their stakes from Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain to the new system.
When this was launched it introduced something called Hyperstaking. Hyperstaking is a way of staking that can be programmed. It uses contracts to make custom rules.
For example Mainnet Onramp contract and Hyperstaking can be used to make programs or special kinds of staking that keep peoples information private. They can even be used to make staking derivatives. All of these things were available from the start.
The fact that Hyperstaking is flexible is good for the network. It helps keep the network safe by getting more people to participate. It also allows people to come up with ways to make money in a way that follows the rules. The Mainnet Onramp contract and Hyperstaking are important, for this.DuskDS is the base layer that takes care of some things like consensus, data availability and final settlement, for securities and regulated assets. It has a way of working called Proof-of-Blind Bid, which is a type of Proof-of-Stake. This makes DuskDS more secure because it keeps the bids from validators so people cannot cheat by looking at what others are doing. DuskDS can also make blocks very quickly about every 2 seconds. It supports something called EIP-4844 also known as Proto-Danksharding, which helps handle pieces of data in a efficient way. This means DuskDS can handle a lot of things at the time without losing its decentralization, which is what makes DuskDS special. Post-launch, the network saw upgrades like the DuskDS L1 enhancement on December 10, 2025, which boosted data availability and performance, paving the way for more complex executions.
In January 2026 the mainnet is working properly. We have tools like the Block Explorer, which uses Blockscout. This helps users to track Dusk transactions Dusk addresses and Dusk contracts easily.
Now let us talk about DuskEVM. DuskEVM is the star of the show. DuskEVM is Dusks environment for executing smart contracts, similar to the EVM. DuskEVM is built to make sure that smart contracts run smoothly and quickly. DuskEVM also gets the benefits of being secure and private from DuskDS. DuskEVM is different, from EVM chains that work with Ethereum. DuskEVM works directly with DuskDS, which makes DuskEVM very powerful and flexible. The Dusk network is built on the OP Stack, which's Optimisms framework. This means that the Dusk network is very similar to the Ethereum network. So developers can use the tools they are used to, like Solidity and Hardhat and Foundry without having to make any changes. This makes it easier for developers who already work on the Ethereum network to start building apps on the Dusk network that focus on privacy.
Key features of the Dusk EVM include:
* EVM Equivalence: the Dusk EVM is fully compatible, with the Ethereum network it can run all the codes and it also has some custom codes that make it easy to integrate with other systems. For example the COINBASE opcode gives us the wallet that gets the sequencers fee. The PREVRANDAO does something it gets the latest RANDAO value from DuskDS. Then there is the ORIGIN it takes care of addresses that have names, which is useful, for transactions that happen across different layers. The COINBASE opcode and the PREVRANDAO and the ORIGIN all do jobs.
Privacy Integration: Through Hedger (formerly Zedger), DuskEVM incorporates ZK and FHE for privacy-preserving asset tokenization. This allows for confidential transactions that are still auditable, ideal for RWAs like securities or bonds. Hedger Alpha is already live, enabling zero-knowledge proofs on EVM for regulated use cases.
Transaction Models are really important. The Transaction Models work like this: when we make a transaction it goes through something called op-batcher. Then to DuskDS. After that it gets executed with the help of op-geth. Finally the state of the transaction gets committed with the help of op-proposer.
One thing to note about Transaction Models is that they do not have a place where all the transactions are stored which is called a mempool. Instead Transaction Models use a sequencer to decide which transactions to include. If you want your transaction to happen faster you can pay an extra, which is called a priority tip and that will speed things up.
When it comes to the costs of Transaction Models there are two parts: the cost of executing the transaction on a secondary level, which is similar to something called EIP-1559 and the cost of making sure the data is available on the main level, which is called L1 data availability costs, for Transaction Models.
Scalability is really important. It gets a big boost. The system supports something called Proto-Danksharding which helps reduce the cost of data. It also has a design that separates how things are done from how they are settled. This means we can add layers in the future like DuskVM. DuskVM is a tool that uses something called WASM and it is good, for apps that need a lot of privacy. Scalability is key here. These features really help with that.
Network specifics for DuskEVM are crucial for developers. The mainnet chain ID is 744, with RPC endpoints at https://rpc.evm.dusk.network (HTTPS) and wss://wss.evm.dusk.network (WSS). The explorer is at https://explorer.evm.dusk.network/. Native token is DUSK with 18 decimals, and average block time mirrors DuskDS at ~2 seconds. However, as per the latest documentation, DuskEVM mainnet is not yet live—it's marked as "No" in status updates, with testnet (chain ID 745) fully operational for testing.
The testnet serves as a devnet proxy, allowing devs to deploy contracts, bridge tokens, and experiment with privacy features ahead of the full rollout.Speaking of the launch timeline, community buzz and official hints point to an imminent mainnet activation for DuskEVM in January 2026. Recent X posts from enthusiasts and the team suggest it's dropping in the second week—potentially this week or next.
This comes after the testnet launch that happened in December 2025 which was the last step to get everything ready. When DuskEVM is up and running it will make it easy to put Solidity contracts on Dusks privacy-first L1, which will allow for DeFi and RWA applications that follow the rules. Think about being able to trade stocks in private but still in a way that can be verified or institutions being able to lend money with encrypted information. All of this can happen without the problems that come with standard EVM chains being too transparent. The plan, for after the mainnet launch will make all of this more possible. DuskEVM will really make a difference. Priorities include Lightspeed (an EVM-compatible L2 settling on Dusk for faster throughput), Dusk Pay (a MiCA-compliant payments circuit), and deeper integrations with partners like NPEX, a licensed Dutch trading venue. NPEX brings regulatory licenses into the fold, enabling regulated issuance and trading of RWAs. A collaboration with Chainlink for interoperability and data standards further bolsters this, bringing oracle-fed market data on-chain for compliant assets.
DuskTrade is a platform that is going to be available in 2026. People can sign up on a waitlist soon. This platform might have over 300 million euros in assets.
DuskTrade uses something called DUSK to make everything work. DUSK is a kind of token that is used on the Ethereum system. The address, for DUSK is 0x940a2db1b7008b6c776d4faaca729d6d4a4aa551. People use DUSK to pay fees to stake and to help make decisions for DuskTrade. There are one billion DUSK tokens in total and about 500 million of them are being used now. The value of DUSK can change a lot. It might become more stable as more people start using DuskTrade and DUSK.
DUSK is an important part of the DuskTrade ecosystem. Recent price analyses note profit-taking after the DuskDS upgrade but highlight bullish catalysts like EVM mainnet and institutional inflows.
The market value of this thing is really low which means it is a risk but it could also be a big payoff for people who care about keeping their information private. There are still some problems to deal with. For example it takes seven days to finish a transaction on DuskEVM, which's something it got from DuskDS. This might stop people who like to trade a lot from using it. Also the private sequencer might make people worry that it is not fair even though it is supposed to be fair. The people in charge of making rules are also giving Dusk a time, which is why it did not launch in April 2024 like it was supposed to. This is a challenge, for Dusk. These things are what make Dusk special. It is made for world finance, not just people who use crypto.
In the end Dusks mainnet and the upcoming launch of DuskEVM show that blockchain technology is becoming more suitable for institutions.
Dusk is combining the EVM with tools for privacy and compliance so it will be the best choice for tokenized real world assets and regulated DeFi.
As Dusks mainnet gets better and EVM starts working we can expect to see more developers working on it partnerships and more liquidity, for Dusk and DuskEVM. For anyone eyeing the intersection of finance and blockchain, Dusk isn't just another project—it's a blueprint for the future. Keep an eye on official channels for the exact EVM rollout; the second week of January 2026 could be transformative.