Zero Knowledge Smart Contracts on Dusk Network

Today we are excited to release the first version of the XSC-specification.

Dusk Network is one of the most advanced projects in the privacy space, and we have worked tirelessly to extend our zero-knowledge research to Smart contracts. Our first smart contract standard is the Confidential Security Contract (XSC), and it is the de facto standard for security token issuance, trading, and management.

XSC specifications paper V1.0

Through the XSC spec we give insight into the functionality built into our smart contracts. We have been improving on existing Security Token Standards, researching the validity of the assumptions they made, whilst adding requirements they missed. As we wrap up a phase of validation with some of the world’s leading legal studios, we are ready to publish our shortlist of functionality for V1.

The specification paper further outlines the pre-set roles within any XSC-standard, and how each user interacts with it. Given the vast amount of asset types, requirements, and restrictions in each jurisdiction we will continuously consider enhancement requests to expand current standards, or add new standards altogether.

Roles

The contract distinguishes general Users of the Dusk Network from Contract_Users. Contract_Users are owners of any XSC-based Security Token. Furthermore, the issuing entity is cited as the Contract_Owner. The Contract_Owner is uniquely positioned to appoint third-parties to co-sign before any important functionality is executed. The co-signing feature is made possible by threshold signatures and have been implemented because of the need for strong corporate governance principles and contingency planning.

These features are relevant for critical situations such as the issuance of new securities (minting tokens / issuing shares), for example when a court mandates a transfer of securities from one party to another. Safeguards are put in place to ensure that issuers will never accidentally lose ownership, whilst allowing for ownership to change when the need arises. You can also choose to enable enhanced governance on more managerial issues, such as ongoing corporate actions like dividend payments or shareholder voting.

To summarize what gets us excited:

- Strong on-chain governance mechanisms

- On-chain Voting

- On-chain Alerts/Messaging

- View-only permission management (can be used for finance dApps)

- Buyback options: set-price purchase, or Dutch Auction

You can read the full document here. If you have any questions please direct them towards mels@dusk.network.

Dusk — Technology for Securities

Dusk streamlines the issuance of digital securities and automates trading compliance with the world’s first programmable and confidential securities.