Entering 2026, the trend in the blockchain market has clearly shifted. After the sedimentation and adjustments in 2025, institutional funds are beginning to seriously focus on tangible directions such as RWA tokenization, compliant DeFi, and privacy infrastructure. Under this overall trend, a project established in 2018, Dusk, has become increasingly low-key—its market cap is only about $30 million, yet it holds the most industry-aligned underlying technology for institutional needs. Honestly, watching this makes the market anxious: are we collectively missing a multi-fold opportunity?

From the very beginning, Dusk has taken an unconventional path. It’s neither part of the meme coin hype wave nor another Ethereum clone blockchain. Its target is a clearly defined niche market: a first-layer blockchain tailored for regulated financial institutions. Its mission is straightforward—bring the global financial market onto the chain while integrating privacy and compliance into the system.

The technical solution is a highlight. Dusk uses zero-knowledge proofs, homomorphic encryption, and its self-developed Hedger protocol to achieve a crucial balance: transaction privacy is enabled by default, but auditing and verification are optional. Simply put, ordinary nodes cannot see plaintext, while regulatory agencies holding dedicated keys can selectively verify. This is not just a fancy feature; under strict regulatory frameworks like MiCA and MiFID II, it’s an "essential option" for institutions to go on-chain.

Recently (mid-January 2026), DuskEVM mainnet went live, and things started to get interesting. Full EVM compatibility means developers can migrate applications directly, significantly lowering the barrier to entry. This opens up imaginative space for expanding the entire ecosystem. With technical capabilities, compliance mindset, and developer-friendly toolchains—viewed from the perspective of institutional adoption—Dusk is actually ready. The real question is when the market will recognize this.