Confidential assets and traditional tokens behave the same way functionally — both can be issued, transferred, and redeemed — but they differ on privacy. Traditional tokens (like standard ERC-20s) publish every balance and transfer in plaintext, while confidential assets encrypt those values onchain and use zero-knowledge proofs to keep them verifiable. Confidential assets also add compliance hooks, such as selective disclosure, that public tokens lack.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://ryle.sh/docs/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Side-by-side comparison
| Dimension | Traditional token | Confidential digital asset |
|---|---|---|
| Balances | Public, plaintext | Encrypted onchain |
| Transaction amounts | Public | Encrypted |
| Counterparties | Publicly linkable | Not exposed |
| Verifiability | Public read of state | Zero-knowledge validity proofs |
| Compliance / disclosure | None built in | Selective disclosure, scoped and logged |
| Auditability | Public to everyone | Auditable by policy |
| Settlement | EVM chains | EVM chains |
| Fit for regulated business | Weak — leaks activity | Strong — private by default, disclosable |
Privacy
A traditional token’s balances and transfers are readable by anyone. A confidential asset keeps them encrypted, so public blockchain exposure of treasury, counterparties, and flows is eliminated by default.Verifiability
Public tokens are verifiable because everyone can read the state. Confidential assets achieve verifiability differently: zero-knowledge proofs confirm each transaction is valid without revealing the values.Compliance
Traditional tokens have no disclosure mechanism — visibility is all-or-nothing. Confidential assets add selective disclosure, so issuers can prove specific activity to auditors and regulators on demand.Performance and tooling
Both settle on EVM-compatible chains. With Ryle, the additional cryptography (proof generation, verification, circuits) is managed by the platform and gas is sponsored by a relayer, so the integration surface stays close to a familiar token workflow.Related
- What are confidential digital assets?
- How confidential assets work
- Selective disclosure
- Confidential accounts explained
FAQ
Can I add confidentiality to a token I already issue?
Can I add confidentiality to a token I already issue?
Yes. Ryle supports a confidential layer on an asset you already issue, a brand-new confidential asset, or confidentiality on a third-party asset — all behind the same API.
Are confidential assets slower than traditional tokens?
Are confidential assets slower than traditional tokens?
They involve proof generation, but Ryle runs this in managed workers and sponsors gas via its relayer, so the operational experience stays close to a standard token integration.