#dusk $DUSK
Recently I shared some screenshots of everyone’s returns in the “flip coins / new chains” groups, and found an interesting pattern: everyone is chasing all kinds of new chains, while some older, established infrastructure projects hardly get discussed. I dug into the RWA and privacy directions, and then took another look at Dusk. I found that it has taken a particularly rare path in the privacy track—not the kind of approach that fully encrypts to challenge regulation, but instead uses the XSC standard together with zero-knowledge proofs to enable selective disclosure, so that privacy and compliance can coexist. After DuskEVM goes live on the mainnet in January 2026, it will be fully compatible with Solidity, and the migration cost for developers is effectively removed. In terms of execution, it’s clear it’s actually getting things done: it partnered with the Dutch licensed exchange NPEX, and more than €300 million worth of tokenized securities have already been issued on-chain. Quantoz has also issued the compliant euro-pegged stablecoin EURQ—real-world assets really are running.
But then a contradictory point came up. Although @Dusk is backed by real-world assets, its price has pulled back more than 85% from its peak earlier this year. It’s now hovering around $0.065, with a market cap under $30 million, low on-chain activity, and in June Binance also delisted the DUSK/BTC trading pair—liquidity is clearly under pressure. I do recognize the direction, because traditional institutions really like this kind of compliance-and-privacy solution. Still, after the emotion-driven rotation into the narrative, I’m wondering whether this seemingly dull fundamental situation can truly translate into real on-chain growth. I’ll have to wait and see. After all, in today’s market, it’s harder to achieve real on-chain growth with actual revenues than with grand stories.
Recently I shared some screenshots of everyone’s returns in the “flip coins / new chains” groups, and found an interesting pattern: everyone is chasing all kinds of new chains, while some older, established infrastructure projects hardly get discussed. I dug into the RWA and privacy directions, and then took another look at Dusk. I found that it has taken a particularly rare path in the privacy track—not the kind of approach that fully encrypts to challenge regulation, but instead uses the XSC standard together with zero-knowledge proofs to enable selective disclosure, so that privacy and compliance can coexist. After DuskEVM goes live on the mainnet in January 2026, it will be fully compatible with Solidity, and the migration cost for developers is effectively removed. In terms of execution, it’s clear it’s actually getting things done: it partnered with the Dutch licensed exchange NPEX, and more than €300 million worth of tokenized securities have already been issued on-chain. Quantoz has also issued the compliant euro-pegged stablecoin EURQ—real-world assets really are running.
But then a contradictory point came up. Although @Dusk is backed by real-world assets, its price has pulled back more than 85% from its peak earlier this year. It’s now hovering around $0.065, with a market cap under $30 million, low on-chain activity, and in June Binance also delisted the DUSK/BTC trading pair—liquidity is clearly under pressure. I do recognize the direction, because traditional institutions really like this kind of compliance-and-privacy solution. Still, after the emotion-driven rotation into the narrative, I’m wondering whether this seemingly dull fundamental situation can truly translate into real on-chain growth. I’ll have to wait and see. After all, in today’s market, it’s harder to achieve real on-chain growth with actual revenues than with grand stories.