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A common misconception about privacy protocols is that privacy necessarily undermines auditability. Abyss is designed around the opposite principle: auditability and unlinkability are orthogonal properties. One concerns system correctness. The other concerns information exposure. Abyss preserves the former while eliminating the latter.

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VI.3.1 What Remains Auditable

At all times, any observer can verify that the Abyss protocol satisfies the following global invariants: 
1. No value is created or destroyed
2. Every withdrawal corresponds to a valid deposit
3. No deposit is spent more than its committed balance
4. No withdrawal is executed more than once
These properties are enforced through:
  • On-chain verification of zero-knowledge proofs
  • Public nullifier registries
  • Public Merkle roots representing the commitment set
  • Deterministic contract logic
An auditor does not need to know which deposit funded a withdrawal to verify that the withdrawal is legitimate. Validity is proven by the cryptographic statement itself.

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VI.3.2 Separation of Concerns

Abyss enforces a strict separation between:
  • Correctness data, which is public and verifiable
  • Identity data, which is never revealed
This separation can be expressed formally: 
verify(transaction) == true
∧
infer(counterparty | transaction) == infeasible
The protocol exposes just enough information to prove that rules were followed, and no more.

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VI.3.3 Regulatory and Institutional Audits

For institutions, this model enables a new class of audits. Auditors can:
  • Verify aggregate inflows and outflows
  • Confirm absence of inflation or double-spends
  • Validate contract upgrades and parameter changes
  • Inspect ZK verifier correctness
Without requiring access to individual user histories. This is aligned with modern compliance norms, where regulators care about systemic integrity, not universal surveillance.

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VI.3.4 Selective Disclosure (Out of Scope, By Design)

Abyss does not implement selective disclosure at the protocol level. Users may voluntarily disclose secrets or proofs to third parties if required, but the protocol does not embed identity hooks or backdoors. This ensures neutrality. The protocol enforces privacy by default and does not privilege any observer.

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VI.3.5 Why This Matters

Auditability without linkability allows Abyss to function as:
  • Payment infrastructure
  • Settlement rails
  • Privacy middleware for exchanges and markets
Without becoming opaque or unaccountable. Privacy is achieved through mathematics, not trust.