Dusk Network describes itself as a blockchain for programmable and confidential securities powered by Zero-Knowledge proofs and novel Private PoS leader extraction-based consensus protocol. Dusk Network is a privacy blockchain for financial applications. It is a layer-1 blockchain that powers the Confidential Security Contract (XSC) standard and supports native confidential smart contracts. Dusk Network aims to address the requirements and needs of financial markets. Central to its design is a scalable public infrastructure direct settlement finality of transactions and strict data privacy.- Direct settlement finality. A distributed Financial Market Infrastructure (dFMI) should provide clear and final settlement of transactions. On Dusk Network transactions are fast take seconds to complete and achieve immediate on-chain finality.- Privacy. Dusk Network provides full user privacy and enables decentralized applications and third-parties to adhere to strict compliance requirements whilst still offering data privacy. This increases the ability to perform business processes on-chain leading to significant cost reduction.- Public. Users do not need the approval of a trusted authority to use the Dusk Network blockchain. Besides only minimal processing power and modest IT resources to join. All users who possess the DUSK token can participate in the consensus.