Regulatory pressure in Europe has made one thing clearer: privacy by itself is not enough.
Many privacy systems assume compliance can be added later through off-chain reporting or trusted intermediaries. Dusk takes a different route. Compliance is treated as a protocol-level feature. The chain itself defines how disclosure happens.
On Dusk, auditability is opt-in but cryptographically enforced. An asset issuer or participant can reveal transaction details selectively, using proofs rather than trust. This means regulators or auditors can verify activity without gaining blanket visibility into everything else.
This matters today because European frameworks increasingly require traceability on demand, not permanent transparency. Dusk’s design aligns with that reality. Privacy is the default. Disclosure is explicit. Enforcement is mathematical, not procedural.
The upside is clear alignment with regulated markets. The tradeoff is complexity. Building compliance into the protocol raises the bar for tooling, UX, and developer education. It is slower than outsourcing compliance to third parties.
But it reflects a clear assumption: regulated finance will not accept privacy without accountability.
