How serious are privacy issues in the blockchain world? Every transaction is like being exposed in the sunlight—amounts, addresses, and flow are all transparent. That’s why institutional investors have been hesitant to move large-scale on-chain.

Dusk is rewriting this dilemma with a different approach. It combines Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZK) and Homomorphic Encryption (HE) to achieve a seemingly contradictory goal: transactions are completely private but can still be audited for verification. In simple terms, users’ wallet information is hidden from the outside, but compliant institutions can review the legality of transactions—this is what institutional-grade DeFi should look like.

Citadel’s zero-knowledge KYC solution solves the longstanding challenge of identity verification. Traditional privacy coins are either completely black-box (which draws regulatory suspicion) or compromise on privacy. Dusk’s built-in compliance switch is different; it allows privacy and regulation to coexist, rather than being mutually exclusive.

From a technical comparison, Tron quickly built its ecosystem with low fees and high throughput, but Dusk takes a more refined approach—offering stronger privacy capabilities, targeting a niche but high-end user base. By 2026, as compliance frameworks become clearer, solutions that combine privacy and auditability may open a window for institutional recognition.