The Dusk Network is built around a carefully designed interaction model that defines how users, institutions, and applications engage with the protocol. Unlike most blockchains that expose low-level operations, Dusk focuses on three core actions—REGISTER, SEND, and CREATE—that structure all meaningful activity on the network. These actions may seem simple, but together they form the foundation of a privacy-preserving, programmable, and regulation-ready blockchain.
Dusk is not intended for chaotic experimentation or anonymous systems with unclear accountability. It is designed for real financial use, where every interaction must be secure, verifiable, private, and compliant by default. When a participant joins the network, they do so through the REGISTER action, which allows the protocol to securely create an account with a cryptographic key pair. This process separates identity and account creation from public exposure, enabling users to register without revealing personal data, wallet history, or external identifiers. The network only sees what is necessary to ensure correctness, supporting privacy-preserving onboarding while allowing future compliance measures, such as selective disclosure or private KYC checks. For institutions, this design ensures accounts can be created under controlled conditions, audited when needed, and integrated into regulated workflows without turning onboarding into a public data leak.
Once registered, participants can move value using the SEND action. On most blockchains, sending tokens exposes addresses, amounts, and behavioral patterns, creating a transparent financial graph that can be analyzed or exploited. Dusk approaches this differently. SEND transactions are fully validated but remain confidential internally. The network verifies balances and transaction validity without revealing sensitive information publicly. This makes SEND suitable for both retail users and institutional use cases such as payroll, treasury management, settlement between counterparties, and regulated asset transfers. Value can move on-chain without converting the ledger into an open financial database.
Beyond transfers, Dusk enables developers and users to deploy applications through the CREATE action. These applications are not limited to simple token transfers; they can implement complex financial logic, including tokenized securities, voting systems, dividend distribution, compliance rules, and asset lifecycle management. What sets Dusk apart is how it manages state visibility. Applications can expose non-sensitive information when needed while keeping critical operations—such as ownership checks, voting outcomes, and asset transfers—private. This allows developers to build systems that behave like traditional financial infrastructure, where sensitive data is visible only to authorized parties while the network maintains correctness, integrity, and compliance.
By limiting network interactions to REGISTER, SEND, and CREATE, Dusk achieves a balance between clarity and capability. Every action is intentional, auditable, and compatible with zero-knowledge verification. There are no hidden shortcuts or undefined behaviors, which makes the network easier to understand for regulators, auditors, and institutions without compromising user privacy. Whereas most blockchains expose far too much by default, Dusk exposes only what is necessary: identity is protected during registration, value flow is confidential in transfers, and application logic is shielded in deployed programs. Together, these features create a unified framework capable of supporting private users, institutional finance, and compliant on-chain systems.
This is not merely protocol design—it is infrastructure for the next generation of blockchain adoption, designed to meet the real-world requirements of privacy, security, and compliance while maintaining flexibility for developers and institutions alike.