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3.1 Design Principles

Privacy by Construction, Not Obfuscation
Abyss is built on cryptographic guarantees rather than heuristic privacy. The protocol does not rely on delays, batching, transaction routing tricks, or trust in relayers to achieve privacy. All privacy properties emerge from formally defined zero-knowledge proofs, commitment schemes, and nullifier logic. If a privacy guarantee cannot be expressed as a verifiable statement inside a circuit, it is not relied upon. Single-Pool Maximal Anonymity
Fragmentation is the enemy of privacy. Abyss intentionally uses a single global anonymity pool to maximize entropy and reduce correlation risk. Multiple pools, denominations, or asset-specific silos are avoided unless they can be shown to strictly improve anonymity without reducing composability. Non-Custodial and Key-Defined Ownership
Control over funds is derived exclusively from possession of cryptographic secrets. Abyss never takes custody of assets in a discretionary sense. The protocol does not track users, accounts, or identities. Ownership is proven, not asserted. Composable Privacy Infrastructure
Abyss is designed as infrastructure, not a closed application. Its abstractions are meant to compose with DeFi protocols, exchanges, payment flows, and prediction systems without leaking transaction history. Privacy is treated as a layer, not a destination. On-Chain Verifiability
All critical state transitions are verifiable on-chain. Privacy does not come at the cost of auditability. Anyone can verify that:
  • Withdrawals are valid
  • Double-spends are impossible
  • Total system balances are conserved

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3.2 Engineering Constraints

Abyss optimizes for:
  • Deterministic execution
  • Bounded on-chain verification cost
  • Minimal trusted assumptions
  • Explicit failure modes
ZK proof generation is expected to occur off-chain by users or wallets. On-chain contracts are optimized for verification, not proving.

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3.3 Explicit Non-Goals

Network-Layer Anonymity
Abyss does not attempt to hide IP addresses, RPC metadata, or network-level identifiers. Users concerned with network privacy must rely on external tools. This separation is intentional to keep the protocol simple and composable. Amount Privacy (at This Layer)
Transaction amounts are visible on-chain. Abyss focuses on unlinkability, not value concealment. Future extensions may address amount privacy, but it is not required for the core guarantees. Illicit Obfuscation Guarantees
Abyss does not guarantee immunity from legal or regulatory scrutiny. It provides cryptographic privacy, not legal insulation. The protocol is designed to be neutral infrastructure, not an evasion system. Universal Privacy for All Actions
Only transfers mediated through Abyss receive privacy guarantees. Direct interactions with other contracts remain public unless integrated explicitly.

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3.4 Design Implications

These principles result in a protocol that is:
  • Strongly private under clear assumptions
  • Legible to auditors and regulators
  • Usable as a building block rather than a silo
  • Resistant to misuse through structural clarity rather than restrictions
Abyss is intentionally narrow in scope and deep in guarantees. That focus is what allows it to remain credible as privacy infrastructure.