Imagine this: in traditional finance, placing an order to buy stocks requires waiting two business days for settlement and paying layers of intermediary fees. On-chain, all of this can be completed in seconds. The question is, why haven't institutions fully adopted it yet? The answer might be: a lack of infrastructure that can both protect privacy and comply with regulations.

One project that has been deeply exploring this path is Dusk, a Layer 1 chain started in 2018, specifically targeting regulated RWA (Real-World Asset Tokenization). This isn't a new concept, but their approach is somewhat unique: instead of brute-force privacy cracking, they enable privacy and auditing to coexist.

How does the underlying technology work? The core is a compatibility layer called DuskEVM. Although it hasn't been fully released yet, developers can already deploy smart contracts using standard Solidity tools. The key is the integration of a privacy engine called Hedger—which supports homomorphic encryption and zero-knowledge proofs. In simple terms, your transaction details are a black box externally, but regulatory authorities can access auditing permissions, satisfying both sides. This is a big deal in capital markets.

Here's a real-world example: a licensed Dutch exchange called NPEX plans to bring over €300 million worth of securities on-chain, using Dusk to build Europe's first fully on-chain compliant secondary market. No more intermediaries, settlement time reduced from T+2 seconds to T+0 seconds, with global liquidity directly connected—sounds a bit magical, but it's technically feasible.

The ecosystem data looks promising: Sozu, a liquid staking project, has a TVL exceeding $20 million, with an annual yield of around 30%; recently, the community held activities distributing over 3 million DUSK in rewards, with good participation. Additionally, Chainlink has been integrated for cross-chain data and asset flow, filling a critical gap.

The DUSK token itself is the chain's gas and staking engine, with a fixed total supply of 1 billion tokens, and an emission cycle of 36 years. This design aims to control inflation. The current market price is around $0.051, with a market cap of approximately $25 million, available on major exchanges.

Looking ahead to 2026, their plan shifts from infrastructure to large-scale applications: phased launches of DuskTrade, Dusk Pay compliant payment solutions, and more ETFs and bonds integration. Their logic is that privacy shouldn't oppose regulation—in fact, it accelerates institutional adoption—because it protects trade secrets while meeting compliance requirements. Why not?

This is not just about moving assets on-chain; it's about redefining the fundamental logic of finance. In the future, ordinary people will be able to self-custody institutional-grade assets. The wave of compliant privacy is just beginning.