Hey everyone, today marks exactly 1 year since Dusk mainnet went live (January 7, 2025 January 7, 2026). First immutable blocks produced after phased rollout started Dec 20, 2024. Uptime has been 100% with no major incidents. This is no longer a roadmap promise it’s a fully operational Layer-1.
The single biggest differentiator of Dusk is auditable privacy (also called “selective disclosure privacy”):
Sender, receiver, amount, balances → hidden by default with ZK-PlonK proofs
Compliance officers & regulators can cryptographically verify rules (AML, travel rule, sanctions screening) without ever seeing the underlying data
Users & institutions get real privacy while still being provably MiCA-compliant
This design is why Dusk is one of very few privacy-focused chains that institutions and EU regulators can actually accept.
Live features right now (Jan 2026):
Hedger Alpha → confidential EVM transactions (public testing phase active)
Hyperstaking → smart-contract programmable staking (min 1,000 $DUSK, auto-reinvest, delegated pools like Sozu beta, no unstaking penalties)
Citadel → ZK-KYC / proof-of-compliance without revealing personal data
Chainlink CCIP → official cross-chain layer for tokenized RWAs
Biggest catalyst ahead: NPEX partnership (licensed Dutch MTF exchange, >€200M historical financing, 17,500+ investors). They are preparing to tokenize regulated equities, bonds & funds on Dusk – compliant issuance & trading expected phased rollout 2026.
$DUSK utility:
pays gas for private transactions
staking rewards from 500 million emission pool (spread over 36 years → very low long-term inflation)
governance voting rights
Official Dusk logo attached.
My opinion: After one full year of mainnet, Dusk is quietly doing everything right: privacy + real regulation + institutional partnerships. While many privacy coins face delisting pressure, Dusk is positioned to benefit from MiCA adoption. I believe 2026 will be the year $DUSK wakes up significantly.
What do you think will auditable privacy become the standard for regulated DeFi/RWAs?
Let me know in the comments!