Rayls
Rayls
Rayls is the blockchain ecosystem for banks and financial institutions. It is not a single chain and not a single product: it is a coordinated set of EVM environments, a privacy framework that runs across them, and the tokens that keep the ecosystem moving. Together they let regulated capital move on-chain without giving up the privacy, controls and auditability institutions are required to maintain.
Rayls is designed to bridge Traditional Finance and Decentralised Finance, bringing the roughly $100 trillion of TradFi liquidity into reach of on-chain markets, and bringing on-chain markets into reach of the institutions that hold it.
Rayls is not a CBDC, not a stablecoin in itself, and not a single-purpose tokenisation network. It is general-purpose infrastructure, EVM-compatible end to end, and built around three environments with distinct permission models.
Three layers, three permission models
Rayls Privacy Node, private. A sovereign, EVM-compatible chain operated by a single institution. Each institution that uses Rayls runs its own Privacy Node. It is high-performance infrastructure that handles the institution's internal activity and produces the cryptographic material (proofs, commitments, encrypted payloads) that allows it to transact privately with others.
Rayls Private Network, permissioned. A governance layer that connects two or more Privacy Nodes into a shared EVM Layer 1. Membership is permissioned and rules are set by the participating institutions, which makes Private Networks the natural place to model jurisdictions and regulatory frameworks. Every transaction inside a Private Network is private by default.
Rayls Public Chain, permissionless. An Ethereum-compatible Layer 1 open to anyone. This is where assets are distributed, where DeFi protocols are deployed, and where institutional and public liquidity meet.
The three layers are interoperable, and Privacy Nodes are what connects them. A Privacy Node can participate in one or more Private Networks and can also reach the Public Chain. An institution can therefore issue a tokenised asset privately inside a Private Network and then move it to the Public Chain for distribution, and a protocol deployed on the Public Chain (a vault, a swap pool, a DvP contract) can be consumed from inside a Private Network.
How privacy works across the layers
Privacy on Rayls is delivered by the Enygma Framework, which lives in two places at once.
The cryptographic work happens on the Privacy Node: zero-knowledge proof generation, Pedersen commitment storage, key handling, encryption and decryption. The settlement state lives in a pool of smart contracts on whichever chain the transaction settles on, Private Network or Public Chain. Those contracts record that the transaction occurred and that it was valid, without revealing the contents.
This is what allows two institutions to transact privately on a public, auditable chain: the proofs are public, the contents are not.
Settlement and finality
Where a transaction settles depends on where it travels.
- Inside a single Privacy Node, the institution's own chain is the source of truth.
- Between Privacy Nodes inside a Private Network, the Private Network is the source of truth.
- Between Privacy Nodes via the Public Chain, the Public Chain is the source of truth.
Performance follows from Axyl, the Rayls consensus mechanism. Axyl is already live on the Public Chain. It is being rolled out to Privacy Nodes (replacing Geth) and is available on Private Networks as an alternative to Besu. Axyl is designed for institutional throughput: roughly 10,000 transactions per second and sub-second finality.
Validators are separate from Privacy Nodes
A Privacy Node is not a validator. It is the institution's cryptographic and execution layer. Validation is a separate role, and any institution can choose to run validators on the Private Networks it participates in and on the Public Chain, in addition to operating its own Privacy Node.
Tokens and gas
- RLS is the Rayls native token.
- USDr is the gas token of the Public Chain, a stablecoin issued by Rayls and pegged 1:1 to USDC.e (wrapped USDC bridged from Ethereum via LayerZero). Pricing transactions in a stable unit lets institutions budget on-chain activity without exposure to gas-price volatility. Reserves and circulation are published on the Rayls transparency portal, alongside the existing disclosures for RLS.
Privacy Nodes and Private Networks are gasless. Institutions running their own Privacy Node, or transacting inside a Private Network they participate in, do not pay gas on those transactions. Gas applies on the permissionless Public Chain, denominated in USDr.
What this enables in practice
Inside a Rayls Private Network, an institution can:
- onboard clients and operate accounts privately,
- issue and hold tokenised assets in standard ERC formats (ERC-20, ERC-721, ERC-1155),
- transact with other institutions on the network with confidentiality and anonymity preserved,
- run the protocols institutions actually need: payments, DvP settlement, vaults, swap pools, and any other EVM-compatible contract.
EVM compatibility means existing developer tooling, standards and audited contract patterns carry over. Teams do not need to learn a bespoke stack to build on Rayls.
In production
Rayls is backed by financial institutions in Brazil and is in active production deployment with Institutions:
- XP Inc. - USDXP stablecoin
- Núclea - Brazil's largest payment FMI, supporting 150+ financial institutions
- AmFi - tokenised over $500M in credit and debt instruments
The ecosystem, at a glance
| Component | Permission model | Role |
|---|---|---|
| Rayls Privacy Node | Private (single institution) | Sovereign EVM chain. Runs the Enygma cryptography. Gasless. |
| Rayls Public Chain | Permissionless | Ethereum-compatible L1. Public liquidity and protocol layer. Gas in USDr. |
| Rayls Private Network | Permissioned (group of institutions) | Governance layer connecting Privacy Nodes. Models jurisdictions and regulatory frameworks. Private by default. Gasless. |
| Rayls Enygma Framework | Cross-layer | Privacy framework. Cryptography on the Privacy Node, settlement state on chain. |
| RLS | n/a | Rayls native token. |
| USDr | n/a | Stable gas token for the Public Chain, pegged to USDC.e. |
Where to go from here
- If you're evaluating Rayls for an institution, start with Rayls Privacy Node and Enygma Framework.
- If you're building on Rayls, start with Rayls Public Chain and how to get USDr.
Updated 14 minutes ago