artagliaResearch

Research · Not live

Dark Hook.

Cross in the dark. Settle in the light.

A Uniswap v4 hook that turns any pool into a dark venue. Sealed orders cross each other first, at the oracle midpoint. Only the unmatched remainder touches AMM liquidity, through the hook, inside the same proof.

How it worksFollow the research (opens in a new tab)

fill = cross(u, v) at m+remainder → pool

Dark pools run out of counterparties.

A dark pool only fills when a buyer meets a seller. When one side is bigger, the rest waits, or leaves for a public venue and leaks its size on the way out.

AMMs always have liquidity, but every swap is public. Searchers read it in the mempool and trade around it.

One venue hides you but can run dry. The other never runs dry but shows everything. Dark Hook joins them.

Two venues. One proof.

  1. I

    Seal

    Traders seal cartelli into the MARGINALIA pool, as today.

  2. II

    Cross

    At each disfida, matching orders cross each other at the Chainlink midpoint. No AMM involved, no price impact.

  3. III

    Route the remainder

    Whatever stays unmatched routes to a Uniswap v4 pool through the Dark Hook, bounded by each trader’s sealed limit.

  4. IV

    Prove once

    One settlement proof covers both the internal cross and the AMM leg: midpoint fills, limits respected, books balanced.

  5. V

    Reveal only the net

    The public sees one net swap against the pool per batch. Not who, not which side, not how many orders were behind it.

How an order moves through Dark HookSealed cartelli enter the disfida, which crosses matching orders at the midpoint m. Matched pairs become an internal fill. The unmatched remainder goes through the Dark Hook to a Uniswap v4 pool. Both paths join in one Verse, an UltraHonk proof. The chain sees only the proof and one net swap.in the darkin the lightSealed cartelliDisfidacross at midpoint mmatched pairsInternal fillunmatched remainderDark HookUniswap v4poolOne VerseUltraHonk proofChain sees: proof + one net swap
The pool sees one net swap per batch. The chain sees one proof.

What changes.

  • For traders

    Dark fills when a counterparty exists. AMM depth when it doesn’t. Size never hits the public mempool.

  • For LPs

    Flow arrives netted and batched, not as a stream of sniped single swaps.

  • For the chain

    One proof and one net swap per batch, instead of hundreds of visible orders.

Built on what already works.

  • Uniswap v4 hooks — custom logic around every swap in a pool
  • Robinhood Chain — native tokenized equities
  • MARGINALIA — Tartaglia’s shielded note pool
  • Noir and UltraHonk — one proof for the cross and the AMM leg
  • Chainlink Data Streams — the midpoint every internal fill uses

Third-party names describe technology used. No partnership or endorsement is implied.

What we’re still proving.

Dark Hook is research. These are the problems we’re working through before it ships:

  • How to bound the AMM leg so the remainder can’t be sandwiched between batches
  • How to prove an AMM swap result inside the settlement circuit efficiently
  • How the net swap reveals as little as possible about batch direction and size
  • How hook permissions stay minimal and safe (hook security (opens in a new tab))

It ships when it’s proven, audited and safe. Not before.

Cross in the dark. Settle in the light.

Dark Hook is the next step for Tartaglia. Today, the dark pool is live on mainnet.

Trade on mainnetBack to Tartaglia

Research only. Not live. No funds can be used with Dark Hook today.