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12h30 ▪ 8 min read ▪ by Theia P.Summarize this article with:
Beldex, a privacy-first Layer 1 blockchain, announced on 6 October 2026 from the Seychelles that its Confidential Assets, also known as Privacy Tokens, are live on its test network. They are activated by the Proto hard fork, at testnet block height 4,242,200 according to the release. Every token issued this way hides the sender, the receiver and the amount by default. Mainnet will follow, with no date announced, and EVM compatibility will come in a second phase.
In brief Privacy Tokens are available to developers at testnet.beldex.dev through the Proto hard fork, ahead of an undated mainnet rollout. Privacy is built into the asset layer, on top of Beldex’s UTXO model, the same one that powers its ring signatures and stealth addresses derived from Monero’s cryptography. EVM-based token deployment comes later, once account-based addresses and an EVM sidechain, both still in preparation, are live. Two tools accompany the launch: a browser Extension Wallet and a WebJS SDK to connect web applications to private tokens. Context: Beldex raised $8 million on 20 August and is worth about $569 million in market cap as of 5 October, ranked 109th on CoinGecko. What does the Proto hard fork change for developers? Until now, a project that wanted a confidential token had to add a privacy layer on top of a transparent blockchain. Beldex reverses the order: privacy sits in the asset itself, as it does for BDX transactions, a design we compared with the August upgrades on Zcash and Monero. A project can now issue its own token on the testnet, and every transfer inherits the masking of sender, receiver and balances.
Technically, the feature leverages Beldex’s UTXO architecture. A UTXO, for “unspent transaction output”, is the accounting model of Bitcoin and Monero: you spend whole “coins” rather than debiting an account. It is the same model that already underpins the network’s ring signatures and stealth addresses, derived from Monero’s cryptography. Privacy Tokens reuse that base rather than building a new one.
Beldex Chairman Afanddy Bin Hushni summed up the intent:
For far too long privacy in Web3 continues to be an add-on feature that’s just attached. Privacy Tokens changes that, enabling any project to issue a token where sender, receiver, and amount are protected by default, on day one, without ever needing a separate privacy layer or workaround. This is true privacy-by-default cryptography, and we’re thrilled to finally roll it out for everyone.
The code backs the announcement. On 29 September, the project’s GitHub repository merged a change that gates privacy-token transactions behind the hard fork activation, on a branch named “confidential-asset-v2” (pull request #81). Block height 4,242,200 and the activation date, however, appear only in the press release.
Why start with UTXO rather than EVM? Because Beldex wants to ship privacy first and compatibility second. EVM-based token deployment, the format of Ethereum and its derivatives, will come once the network has account-based addresses and its EVM sidechain, both announced but not yet delivered. The team’s argument: bolting privacy onto an inherently transparent framework is exactly the “add-on” approach the project says it wants to avoid.
The tokens arrive within an already functioning ecosystem. Beldex currently hosts:
BChat, a metadata-free encrypted messenger; BelNet, a decentralized VPN routing traffic through masternodes; the Beldex Browser, which integrates AI tools and routes browsing through BelNet; the Beldex Wallet; the BNS Marketplace, a web-based decentralized marketplace at bns.beldex.io. A project could therefore deploy its own privacy token on Beldex and build a dedicated application around it, with the token serving as the native asset for private payments, rewards or access. The chairman insists on this application-economy logic:
Privacy Tokens lets developers build an entire application economy where privacy is the starting point. It isn’t just another token standard. Whether it’s a private DeFi protocol, a confidential rewards system, or a new dApp entirely that no one has previously imagined, these assets all inherit the same cryptographic guarantees that protect every BDX transaction on our network.
Which tools make these tokens usable? Two pieces of infrastructure are being developed in parallel: the Beldex Extension Wallet, a browser extension, and a WebJS SDK. Together, they are meant to let a web application connect to a user’s Beldex wallet, request a transfer, display a balance and integrate private tokens into its workflows without exposing transaction data. They are the link between the privacy infrastructure and the applications built on top of it.
The release also maps out the next step: once account-based addresses and the EVM sidechain are in production, tokens issued on the UTXO layer will be able to migrate into the EVM ecosystem while carrying their privacy properties forward. Beldex thereby positions itself as one of the few networks offering a path from UTXO-native privacy to EVM-compatible privacy tokens. That migration remains an intention: neither prerequisite has a date.
Where does Beldex stand, and what should European users watch? The project arrives with fresh resources. On 20 August, Beldex announced an $8 million raise led by Sigma Capital, with NTC, Nxgen, Digital Consensus Fund and EAK Ventures, earmarked for developer tooling, confidential applications, protocol security and AI infrastructure (press release, 20 August).
On 18 September, it published a security audit by Dakara Research (Beldex blog post). As of 5 October, BDX is worth about $569 million, ranked 109th on CoinGecko, with $3.6 million traded over 24 hours (CoinGecko).
The network runs on Proof-of-Stake with masternodes, BDX serving both as a private currency and as the staking token. The team says it is exploring zero-knowledge systems, quantum-safe cryptography, fully homomorphic encryption and private smart contracts.
The point of vigilance is not technical but regulatory. The EU anti-money-laundering regulation 2024/1624 will, from 10 July 2027, prohibit crypto-asset service providers from keeping accounts that allow the anonymisation of transactions (text on EUR-Lex, Article 79). Self-custody is not targeted, but access to confidential tokens through regulated European platforms will close. A developer targeting the European market will have to build with that deadline in mind, a tension we examined when Grayscale listed the first Zcash ETF in the United States.
The testnet is open, the code is merged, the tools are announced. What is missing is precisely what matters to a project deciding whether to commit: a mainnet date, a date for account-based addresses, a date for the EVM sidechain. The next verifiable step is the activation of the Proto hard fork at block 4,242,200; the one after that, the first third-party token deployed on the testnet. For the sector as a whole, the useful comparison remains the privacy coins that have already crossed into mainnet and regulated markets, and what it cost them.
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Theia P.
DISCLAIMER
The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author, and should not be taken as investment advice. Do your own research before taking any investment decisions.