StarkWare and Sui Introduce Privacy Features With Conditional Disclosure Options

StarkWare and Sui launched new privacy features this week aimed at concealing transaction data while preserving pathways for auditing and regulatory oversight. According to Cointelegraph, StarkWare said Tuesday that it introduced STRK20, a privacy framework for ERC-20 tokens on Starknet designed to let users shield balances and transaction details while enabling disclosure under certain circumstances. Eli Ben-Sasson, co-founder and CEO of StarkWare, said “compliance-ready” does not mean STRK20 determines legal compliance or guarantees regulatory approval. He added that the framework uses a risk-based model where privacy is conditional rather than absolute, with screening applied when entering the shielded pool and viewing-key-based disclosure available under lawful request. Separately, Sui launched a public beta for confidential transfers, which conceal transaction amounts while allowing authorized parties to access information when required for auditing or compliance purposes. The launches reflect a broader shift in crypto privacy away from complete anonymity and toward models that incorporate audit and disclosure mechanisms favored by institutions. In recent weeks, privacy-focused projects have faced questions about oversight and reliability. Zama, a blockchain privacy project, said on June 2 that it would accelerate its compliance roadmap after a court-ordered freeze of about $12.5 million in USDC held in its confidential USDC wrapper; the freeze was later lifted following resolution of the underlying legal request. Zama subsequently emphasized its disclosure mechanisms and approach to regulatory coordination for encrypted transactions. The broader push comes amid renewed scrutiny of another major privacy project after Zcash disclosed a bug that raised concerns counterfeit tokens could have been created undetected. Zcash developers said the vulnerability was addressed through an emergency network upgrade completed in early June, with no confirmed evidence of exploitation, while noting that shielded pools can make it difficult to fully reconstruct transaction history after vulnerabilities are disclosed.