Gourav-S

@Dusk $DUSK #dusk
In the rapidly evolving world of blockchain technology, partnerships are often what separate theory from real adoption. For many networks, partnerships are marketing announcements — but with Dusk (previously Dusk Network), the collaborations are strategic, compliance-focused, and deeply tied to real financial infrastructure. These alliances aren’t just about logos; they are actively enabling regulated finance, tokenized securities, cross-chain interoperability, and institutional participation that few other chains have achieved.

In this article, I’ll take you through the most important strategic collaborations that are accelerating Dusk’s adoption in traditional finance and blockchain ecosystems, explain why each matters, and give you a clear picture of how they work together to build a future where real-world assets operate natively on-chain.

🏛 NPEX — Turning a Regulated Exchange Into an On-Chain Market

One of Dusk’s most foundational partnerships is with NPEX, a fully regulated Dutch stock exchange licensed as a Multilateral Trading Facility (MTF). This collaboration goes far beyond simple integration — it effectively embeds regulated financial market infrastructure into the Dusk ecosystem.

Here’s why this matters:

Licensed Framework: NPEX holds multiple financial licenses — including MTF, Broker, ECSP, and a forthcoming DLT-TSS — allowing regulated activity like issuance, trading, and settlement of real-world assets on-chain.

Unified Lifecycle: Instead of tokenizing assets off-chain and then trying to map them on-chain, Dusk and NPEX enable native issuance and trading of securities directly on the blockchain.

Regulatory Composability: Assets and applications built under the NPEX framework can interoperate under one legal umbrella, reducing fragmentation and compliance friction.

This partnership is a cornerstone of Dusk’s thesis: blockchains can power actual capital markets — not just experimental tokens — with privacy and compliance built in from the start.

🔗 Chainlink — Interoperability, Oracles & Cross-Chain Reach

To scale beyond a single chain and connect tokenized assets with broader markets, interoperability and reliable data are essential. That’s where Chainlink plays a pivotal role. Dusk has partnered with Chainlink to adopt its Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP), DataLink, and Data Streams — creating a technical and regulatory bridge for financial assets.

This partnership enables:

Cross-Chain Movement of Assets: Tokenized securities issued on DuskEVM can move across different blockchains with compliance preserved, expanding liquidity and accessibility.

Real-Time Regulatory Data Feeds: Using Chainlink DataLink and Data Streams, official exchange pricing and trading data from NPEX is published on-chain, which is critical for institutional trading and smart contract logic.

Cross-Chain Token Transfers: DUSK itself can leverage Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Token (CCT) standard to appear on ecosystems like Ethereum and Solana while retaining regulatory attributes.

In essence, Chainlink builds the infrastructure backbone that connects Dusk’s regulated assets to the wider DeFi and institutional ecosystems — a major step toward true composability and global adoption.

🤝 21X — Institutional Market Access With EU Regulatory Credentials

Another key collaborator is 21X, a Frankfurt-based firm that holds the first EU DLT-TSS license — a regulatory credential for tokenized securities markets under European law.

This partnership drives value in several ways:

Market Infrastructure Access: 21X’s DLT-TSS license allows compliant trading and infrastructure services for tokenized assets within EU regulations.

Shared Technology Integration: Plans are underway for 21X to integrate DuskEVM into its platform, further lowering barriers for institutions to use Dusk technology.

RWA Ecosystem Growth: By combining 21X’s regulatory foundation with Dusk’s blockchain architecture, the collaboration expands opportunities for regulated assets like stablecoins and money market funds to operate natively on-chain.

This reinforces Dusk’s reputation as a blockchain platform built for regulated finance, not just another crypto network.

🛡 Cordial Systems — Institutional-Grade Custody and Security

For institutional players, custody and control over digital assets are non-negotiable. That’s where Cordial Systems enters the ecosystem, with custodial solutions that integrate deeply with Dusk’s infrastructure and its NPEX partnership.

Key features of this partnership include:

Self-Hosted Custody: Providers like NPEX can manage assets using Cordial Treasury, avoiding dependency on third-party “SaaS” solutions and ensuring full control.

Institutional Trust: Custody solutions tailored for banks, exchanges, and regulated entities lower the barrier for traditional financial institutions to participate in blockchain markets.

Broad Asset Support: The solution will eventually support custody for cryptocurrencies, tokenized securities, and other digital commodities — making Dusk a one-stop ecosystem for compliant digital finance.

Secure custody is essential for real adoption — without it, institutions simply can’t commit large capital or real assets to on-chain systems.

📌 Why These Partnerships Matter — A Bigger Picture

Taken together, these collaborations paint a clear picture: Dusk isn’t chasing hype — it’s building infrastructure that institutions can actually use. Here’s how these partnerships create a powerful network effect:

1. Regulated Issuance Meets Blockchain Innovation

The NPEX and 21X partnerships embed real financial licenses and market access into the blockchain layer, allowing regulated issuance and trading of assets that historically lived only in legacy systems.

2. Interoperability Unlocks Global Liquidity

Chainlink’s CCIP and oracle capabilities mean that once assets are tokenized on Dusk, they can interact with other ecosystems and markets — a major draw for institutional capital looking for broad accessibility.

3. Trust, Security, and Custody Enable Institutional Confidence

Secure, compliant custody provided by Cordial Systems removes one of the biggest practical blockers for institutional adoption, making Dusk a credible option for real finance entities.

🧠 Final Thoughts

Blockchain adoption in regulated finance isn’t about quick features or flashy marketing — it’s about real partnerships that solve real problems. Dusk’s strategic collaborations with NPEX, Chainlink, 21X, and Cordial Systems demonstrate a focused, long-term strategy to enable scalable, compliant, and institutional-ready financial infrastructure. As more regulated assets come on-chain and interoperability expands globally, the network’s partner ecosystem will likely continue driving meaningful adoption and utility.

@Walrus 🦭/acc $WAL #walrus

Decentralized storage is more complex than simply uploading files — it’s an evolving market-driven system where prices adapt over time. In Walrus Protocol, which runs on the Sui blockchain, storage pricing isn’t fixed forever. Instead, it changes at each storage epoch based on node proposals, stake weight, and consensus mechanisms, creating a fair and resistant model that balances supply and demand while rewarding reliable storage providers. Understanding this evolution helps users plan storage costs and builders forecast long-term deployment economics.

1. What Is a Storage Epoch?

Walrus operates in epochs — predefined periods that currently last about two weeks on Mainnet. Each epoch defines a period during which specific storage nodes are responsible for serving data, auditing each other, and sharing economic parameters like pricing and committee membership.

A storage epoch is central to pricing because:

Node prices are proposed and selected at epoch boundaries.

Funds collected for storage are distributed to nodes at the end of an epoch.

Users must buy storage space for one or more epochs in advance.

2. How Nodes Set Prices for an Epoch

Instead of having a static fee or a single authority set storage costs, Walrus uses a market-driven mechanism involving storage node proposals:

1. Before an epoch starts, all participating storage nodes broadcast their proposed prices for storing data in the upcoming epoch — both for per-unit storage and for write operations (registering blobs).

2. These proposals aren’t averaged; they’re sorted by stake weight, giving more influence to nodes with higher delegated stake.

3. Walrus selects the 66.67th percentile price (by stake weight) as the official storage rate for the next epoch. This means two-thirds of stake-weighted proposals suggest a lower price, and one-third suggest a higher price.

4. The final storage price set for that epoch becomes the reference rate users pay when purchasing storage space.

This percentile rule helps make pricing Sybil-resistant and incentive-aligned: a small group of low-stake actors can’t overly manipulate prices, and well-staked, reputable nodes guide more reasonable rates.

3. Buying Storage: What Users See

When a user wants to store a file (a blob), they must first purchase storage space measured in bytes and epochs. The cost is:

Linear in encoded size — larger files cost more WAL to reserve space.

Linear in the number of epochs — longer storage durations cost proportionally more WAL.

Encoded blob size (after erasure coding) is typically about 5× the unencoded file size, meaning pricing factors in redundancy and strong fault tolerance.

Once storage space is bought, users must register the blob and pay a write fee (also determined by node proposals). WAL is paid upfront and split across the epochs for which storage is reserved.

4. Why Pricing Evolves and What It Means

Walrus’s epoch-based pricing has some key implications:

Dynamic Market Response

If many nodes propose higher prices (due to scarcity or higher operational costs), the selected rate rises. Conversely, if many nodes propose competitive lower rates, storage becomes cheaper. This reflects a supply-demand balance of node capacity and user demand for storage each epoch.

Predictability with Flexibility

Users still pay storage upfront for multiple epochs — meaning they lock in the current epoch’s cost for the entire period they pay for. However, future pricing can only be determined after nodes submit their proposals for upcoming epochs. This means:

Users can plan budgets for existing stored data.

New uploads must account for potential cost changes in the next epoch.

Governance Influence

Walrus governance (via $WAL holders) can adjust certain pricing mechanisms over time, such as how write deposits are calculated or how node challenges affect pricing parameters. Thus, pricing evolution isn’t just economic — it’s also protocol-governed when necessary.

5. Practical Example: Planning Storage Costs

Imagine you’re building a decentralized app that stores large JSON files frequently:

You check current costs using the walrus info command, which shows the storage price per encoded unit per epoch and any current write cost.

You decide to reserve storage for 10 epochs (about 20 weeks), paying WAL upfront — the current epoch’s price is applied to all 10 epochs.

Meanwhile, during the next epoch, nodes may propose slightly higher prices due to increased demand, but your reserved costs remain locked for your reserved period.

This model gives long-term storage stability, while still reflecting network conditions when new storage commitments are made.

6. Why Evolving Pricing Matters for Walrus

Walrus-powered applications benefit from this epoch-based pricing evolution for several reasons:

Fairness — Prices reflect actual node costs and decentralized proposals.

Decentralization — No single party sets prices; it’s a democratic selection via stake-weighted node signals.

Predictability — Storage contracts are prepaid, letting developers budget long storage lifetimes without fear of mid-contract price spikes.

Aligns incentives — Nodes that propose reasonable prices are more likely to be selected and earn rewards, encouraging balanced participation.

Conclusion

In Walrus, storage pricing isn’t static — it evolves each epoch based on a stake-weighted proposal mechanism by storage nodes. Users prepay WAL for storage space spanning many epochs, locking in costs for their reserved period while future uploads adjust to new pricing in upcoming epochs. This design makes storage both predictable for long-term use and adaptive to network conditions, reflecting true decentralized economics for durable Web3 data.