When I first looked closely at “transparent by default” blockchains, it felt obvious why people loved them. Everything visible. Every transaction traceable. It sounds clean. Almost comforting. But the longer I watched real markets operate on top of that transparency, the more the cost started to show.
On the surface, transparency promises fairness. Underneath, it creates predictability for actors who know how to read the mempool. In 2023 and 2024, MEV extraction across major public chains was estimated in the low billions of dollars cumulatively. That number matters because it is not abstract. It shows up as worse execution, silent slippage, and strategies that punish anyone moving size. Early signs suggest that as volumes grow, these effects compound rather than fade.
That momentum creates another effect. Institutions notice. A fund placing a $20 million trade does not want its intent broadcast milliseconds before execution. Payroll systems do not want employee salaries indexed forever. Transparency here stops being a virtue and starts becoming friction. The foundation is open, but the texture is hostile to serious financial activity.
This is where Dusk Network takes a different path. Instead of hiding everything, it designs for selective visibility. On the surface, transactions still settle and remain verifiable. Underneath, Moonlight transactions allow details to be revealed only to the parties that need to see them, including regulators. That balance matters. It reduces front-running risk while keeping accountability intact.
There are risks, of course. Privacy systems are harder to explain and slower to gain trust.
Adoption remains uneven, and if demand never materializes, the design advantage stays theoretical. But if this holds, it points to a shift already underway. Markets are learning that total transparency is not the same as total fairness.
The hidden cost of seeing everything is that someone always learns how to use it first.
