The blockchain community often likes to take an either-or stance: either Bitcoin, which exposes everything openly, or privacy coins that hide everything completely. But truly clever players are thinking, can we create a third way?

The Dusk Foundation project is experimenting with this approach. The core idea sounds simple but is complex to implement: enabling transactions to be publicly verifiable, while keeping sensitive details—like amounts and contract terms—encrypted with cryptography.

In other words, on-chain, you can see that "a transaction indeed occurred and the system state changed." But what exactly was in the transaction? Sorry, I only reveal that to authorized parties. This selective disclosure of information is perfectly suited for zero-knowledge proofs (ZKP)—you can prove that a computation is correct without revealing the computation process or data.

This design is especially suitable for complex financial scenarios. Auditors can confirm that smart contracts are executed correctly without being forced to know all business secrets. It sounds perfect, but the devil is in the details.

The biggest risk lies here: the entire system's security depends entirely on the cryptographic integrity of zero-knowledge proofs. No matter how rigorous the mathematical theory, the real problem is in engineering implementation—circuit code, algorithm details, and so on. If there's a flaw somewhere, it could lead to a disaster where "the proof appears valid but is actually false." This isn't hypothetical risk; it's a real threat.

Therefore, the security audit standards for such projects must be much higher than for ordinary public chains and require ongoing assessments.

If you want to seriously observe this project, these indicators are worth paying attention to:

First, how frequently and thoroughly are third-party security audit reports updated? This directly reflects the project's attitude toward risk.

Second, how often do actual "selective disclosure" incidents occur in the network? Ideally, such events should be rare; frequent triggers may indicate problems.

Third, the complexity of confidential contracts running on the network and the amount of assets locked inside. This shows the real adoption level.

Dusk's native asset, used as fuel to drive these privacy computations and verifications, depends on the deployment of high-value contracts. In simple terms, this project is tackling the hardcore cryptographic engineering challenges. Its success or failure entirely depends on whether the technology's reliability and stability meet the requirements.