By 2026, discussions around privacy projects seem to be stuck in a loop. When it comes to Monero, it's all about ring signatures and stealth addresses; mention Zcash, and it's immediately about zk-SNARKs as an optional anonymity feature. Many new projects are even more aggressive, promoting a zero-knowledge revolution and fighting surveillance, which excites many. But reality is cold—once faced with institutional investors and traditional finance, these narratives completely fall apart.

The core issue boils down to one word: regulation.

The emergence of the EU MiCA regulations has changed the game. Policies require crypto service providers to ensure transaction traceability and comply with anti-money laundering standards. What’s the result? Fully anonymous currencies are collectively delisted from mainstream exchanges, and even projects supporting optional privacy features find it hard to enter institutional wallets. Put yourself in their shoes—who would risk billions of euros in assets by putting them into a system that can be hidden at will? That’s not risk; it’s disaster.

It is at this point that Dusk Network comes into view. This project’s roadmap is completely opposite to most privacy coins—no radical slogans, no confrontational promotion, and it doesn’t claim to be a fighter for freedom. Its work is very pragmatic: helping traditional finance restore privacy protections that were long forgotten, while ensuring impeccable compliance so that regulators can’t find fault.

Regarding the privacy design of $DUSK, the core logic can be summarized in eight words: default confidentiality, provable at any time. During transactions, competitors, hackers, and on-chain users cannot see any details. But when audits or compliance are needed, relevant parties can verify the legitimacy of transactions through zero-knowledge proofs—protecting privacy while alleviating regulatory concerns.

Such a design may be the true way forward for privacy coins in the mainstream financial world.