“Mainnet” has become an overloaded word, so it helps to be precise about where Dusk stands today.
DuskDS is live and functioning as the settlement layer. Assets can be settled with finality, and staking is operational. Validators are not theoretical. They are participating today.
DuskEVM is running in public testing. Developers can deploy and interact with standard EVM contracts, understand gas behavior, and test integrations. This is not yet confidential execution. It is the familiar environment builders expect, placed intentionally before privacy is added.
Privacy execution is modular, not monolithic. Full confidential smart contracts are phased rather than switched on all at once. This avoids breaking assumptions around tooling and debugging but means some privacy features are still gated.
What is usable today is settlement, staking, and public EVM logic. What is still evolving is end-to-end confidential execution at scale.
Builders can work now, knowing what layer they are on, rather than waiting for a mythical “complete” mainnet.