Dusk Compliance Native Finance
@duskfoundation is promoting a clear idea that many chains still see as an afterthought: regulated markets need privacy, and privacy requires auditability. Dusk was founded in 2018 as a Layer 1 blockchain built for financial infrastructure, where rules are not optional. Its modular architecture is designed to support institutional-grade applications, compliant DeFi, and real-world asset tokenization without forcing everything into a public glass box.
The key shift is the location of compliance. In most networks, compliance is attached to a single application, creating silos, redundant onboarding processes, and decentralized standards. Dusk aims to achieve protocol-level stack coverage, allowing regulated assets, licensed applications, and composable infrastructure to operate under a shared legal framework. This design choice makes the network feel closer to real financial rails while still remaining open and programmable.
The main catalyst in this direction is NPEX. Through NPEX, Dusk inherits regulatory capabilities covering the entire lifecycle of compliant finance. This includes MTF licenses for operating regulated securities secondary markets, broker licenses for acquiring assets like money market funds and bonds (while supporting best execution), and ECSP licenses for providing retail financing investment tools across the EU. A DLT TSS license is also in application, aimed at supporting the local issuance and on-chain tokenization of regulated assets. These components work together to facilitate issuance, investment, trading, and settlement in a coherent on-chain environment.
Technically, DuskEVM expands builder access by maintaining EVM compatibility while adding privacy and compliance primitives. The privacy engine of the EVM execution layer, Hedger, combines homomorphic encryption with zero-knowledge proofs to maintain the confidentiality of balances and transfers while ensuring auditability when needed. This is a practical approach for markets that require confidentiality without sacrificing executability.