Dusk Network is a decentralized blockchain protocol providing privacy and transparency solutions for payments, communications, and asset ownership transfers. Unlike consensus mechanisms such as PoW or PoS, it introduces a new privacy-oriented consensus mechanism known as the Segregated Byzantine Agreement (SBA). Dusk is a new blockchain that offers genuine privacy and a fast, secure streaming mechanism – Secure Tunneling Switch (STS).

The DUSK token is used for staking and participating in consensus.
Additionally, DUSK tokens are used to pay for transactions, deploy dApps, and cover gas fees. Tokens can also serve as rewards for consensus participants.
DUSK can be exchanged unidirectionally and through atomic swaps with XSC-based tokens.
Once launched, DUSK tokens will be used for on-chain governance within XSC.
In Dusk Network, block rewards are paid out through the issuance of DUSK as defined by the protocol. The majority of newly issued DUSK will reward consensus participants, while a small portion will be allocated to a technology development fund, creating an autonomous funding mechanism for long-term research and development.

Project Introduction

Dusk Network describes itself as a privacy blockchain for financial applications. It is a Layer 1 blockchain supporting the Confidential Security Contract (XSC) standard and confidential smart contracts. Dusk Network is designed to meet the needs of financial markets. Therefore, its core design focuses on a scalable public infrastructure, deterministic direct settlement of transactions, and strict data confidentiality.
By using a new transaction model called Phoenix, Dusk Network aims to bring privacy and anonymity to transactions and smart contracts. Additionally, tokens deployed on Dusk Network can be built upon Zedger, a hybrid privacy protection model based on Phoenix, specifically developed for security tokens.
The network is protected by the "Segregated Byzantine Agreement" (SBA) consensus mechanism. According to the Dusk Network team, SBA improves on potential Proof-of-Stake (PoS) mechanisms by combining existing ideas like "cryptographic classification (lottery), stealth timelock transactions (hidden stake amounts), and reputation" modules to increase the chance of selecting honest nodes and further promote decentralization".
DUSK tokens can be used as utility tokens to initiate transactions, atomic swaps, or deploy smart contracts. DUSK can also be staked to participate in consensus and serve as a means to exchange DUSK-denominated value. In the future, the team plans to expand its use cases by adding DUSK’s utility to on-chain governance systems.

What is Dusk Network (DUSK)?

Dusk Network is a privacy-oriented blockchain protocol with a segregated Byzantine agreement, providing privacy, programmability, and contract auditability. Dusk is built by a team of entrepreneurs, engineers, and researchers with technical experience from backgrounds at Amazon, TomTom, Mozilla, Reaktor, and blockchain projects (Zcash, City of Zion, NEO Research, etc.). Dusk Network is currently in testnet stage and is aimed to become a blockchain protocol designed for the easy deployment of programmable zero-knowledge dApps, becoming the backbone of an open, permissionless, and globally privacy-focused dApp ecosystem. The project aims to eliminate technical barriers hindering mainstream adoption and trading of products like security tokens. Compliance, auditability, and privacy are built into the open, permissionless Confidential Security Token standard ("XSC").

Some of its key elements include:
Approximately $8.08MM was raised through a private token sale from August 2018 to November 2018.
A private proof-of-stake implementation allowing Block Generators to stake anonymously.
Utilizing ZeroCaf to achieve fast, efficient, and bulletproof elliptic curve operations.
Built by a team of entrepreneurs, engineers, and researchers from diverse backgrounds (Amazon, TomTom, Mozilla, ZCash, City of Zion, Neo Research, etc.).

Its core functionalities are:
Dusk Network is designed to achieve privacy and programmability on-chain while maintaining high throughput and deterministic instant transactions. Dusk Network is built on key innovations such as:
Some of its main features include:
Private Proof-of-Stake: Dusk Network’s consensus protocol, the Segregated Byzantine Agreement ("SBA"), is backed by "Blind Bid Proof," which allows Block Generators to stake anonymously.
Decentralization: Encourages smaller participants to join the consensus by eliminating incentives for resource centralization from the stake pool.
Interchangeability: Consensus participants are pseudorandomly selected and unrelated to previous outcomes.

To achieve this, Dusk relies on some core characteristics:
Consensus is reached in three phases: block generation, block reduction, and block agreement.
ZeroCaf enables fast, efficient, and bulletproof elliptic curve operations. ZeroCaf is an elliptic curve developed over the Ristretto scalar field.
Implementation of the zero-knowledge-friendly hash algorithm Poseidon.
Browser nodes for zero-knowledge verification and a zero-knowledge virtual machine architecture.
Completeness of instant transactions: Due to Dusk Network’s properties, transactions under the consensus protocol are completed instantly upon block finalization, except for a negligible probability of forks.