What Is Hedger? Confidential EVM Transactions on Dusk

Hedger is Dusk's privacy module for EVM applications on DuskEVM. It keeps balances and transfer amounts confidential while every transaction can still be verified, and it supports authorized auditing, so approved parties can review information that stays confidential to public observers.

On a standard EVM chain, balances, transfers and trading behaviour are visible to everyone. Many financial applications can't work that way. A fund manager doesn't want competitors reading positions, and investors don't expect their holdings to be public. Hedger lets Solidity builders keep familiar Ethereum tooling and still protect the balances and transfer amounts their application handles.

How does Hedger keep EVM transactions confidential?

Hedger, developed in-house by Dusk, combines two cryptographic techniques. Homomorphic encryption, based on ElGamal over elliptic curves, lets the system work with encrypted amounts and balances without revealing them. Zero-knowledge proofs then show that each computation is correct without disclosing its inputs. Together they let the network accept a confidential transfer as valid.

Hedger is designed for the EVM's account-based model, which keeps it compatible with standard Ethereum tooling. That model rules out full anonymity, so the accounts taking part in a transaction stay visible. Hedger protects the numbers financial users need to keep private, which are the balance each account holds and the amount each transfer moves.

Privacy is a design choice in each application. Deploying a contract doesn't make its data confidential, and each application defines which information uses Hedger, who can access it and what that access covers.

What can applications do with Hedger?

Applications on DuskEVM can use Hedger for:

• Confidential balances and transfers. Balances and transfer amounts stay encrypted.
• Authorized auditing. Approved reviewers can inspect the records they're entitled to, while public observers can't.
• Compliance-aware token workflows. Builders can create regulated-asset contracts that pair confidentiality with authorized review, using an EVM-first developer experience.

Confidentiality can be added to a Solidity application for the flows where its users need it.

Hedger runs on DuskEVM, Dusk's EVM-equivalent execution layer, which settles on DuskDS. It complements Phoenix, the shielded transaction model for DUSK transfers on the Dusk L1. Phoenix protects transfers at the protocol layer, and Hedger brings confidentiality to EVM applications. DuskEVM and the rest of Dusk's network and tools are listed on the Apps & Products page.