In 2026, the year begins with Dusk ecosystem standing on the verge of explosion. As a Layer 1 blockchain focused on regulated financial infrastructure, Dusk has embedded "privacy + compliance" into its DNA since its inception, and this ideal is finally becoming a reality.

Let's trace the timeline: the mainnet has been live for a full year (officially launched on January 7, 2025). During these 12 months, the project completed a major upgrade—evolving from the DuskDS settlement layer to a modular architecture. Now, the most anticipated application layer component, DuskEVM, is about to debut.

Official announcements and community discussions point to the same timeframe—second week of January 2026 (this week or early next week), when the DuskEVM mainnet will go live. By then, developers will finally be able to confidently deploy smart contracts directly on Dusk using Solidity and EVM tools, without the hassle and security risks of cross-chain bridges.

This is not just a skin swap of an L2. The core difference of DuskEVM lies in retaining Dusk's native privacy features, combined with the Hedger module's "auditable privacy" solution—transaction amounts and account balances are fully encrypted externally, while regulators and authorized parties can fully verify compliance. This design directly aligns with the requirements of the EU GDPR and MiCA, as well as strict global standards for data privacy and AML/KYC.

Meanwhile, ecosystem development is accelerating. Dusk is working closely with leading exchanges and institutions, attracting developers and projects through activities like CreatorPad, with the ecosystem heat continuing to rise.