Blockchains since there inception have transformed the way we transact with each other - ushering in an unprecedented amount of innovation. The fundamental properties of blockchain that have made this all possible are immutability, permissionless participation, and censorship-resistance. Fundamentally, blockchain is powering transactions and applications in a way such that anyone around the world with an internet connection can traverse Web3 with a radical degree of freedom and fluidity completely foreign to traditional financial institutions.
DeFi.
NFTs.
Stablecoins.
DAOs.
All of these by-products of blockchain have drastically changed the way we view Web3 and what the future of cryptocurrency and blockchain could entail.
Unfortunately, there is a fundamental property of blockchain that is missing: privacy. Without privacy, perfectly transparent blockchains are limited with the range of usability and functionality that is possible. You wouldn't use a decentralized Uber application built on blockchain if your location was transparent to everyone in the world. You wouldn't use a bank account where everyone in the world is able to tie your identity to every single transaction - putting all of your financial transactions up for scrutiny.
Enter Secret Network.
Secret Network is the first blockchain with data privacy by default, allowing you to build and use applications that are both permissionless and privacy-preserving. This unique functionality protects users, secures applications, and unlocks hundreds of never-before-possible use cases for Web3. This is why we call Secret Network the "Data Privacy Platform for Web3".
Secret Network is built as a decentralized network of computers (secret nodes) utilizing trusted execution environments (TEEs) to enable secure, private computation over encrypted data. TEEs function like a “black box” for data processing and are utilized in all types of everyday platforms, such as smartphones and video game consoles. Since data is encrypted and private by default, Secret Network users have “viewing keys” to view their sensitive data. Viewing keys can be shared with third parties like auditors, wallets, and explorers. They allow users to maintain control over their data and decide what is shared -- and with who.
But before we continue, why the name "Secret Network"?
The name "Secret" comes from a simple idea. Secrets are valuable. Secrets are something you have the choice to share, with distinct control and autonomy over who you share the secret with, and how much of the secret is shared.
Secret Network introduces the concept of "programmable privacy" into smart contracts - which are called "Secret Contracts" on Secret Network. Most privacy solutions in the blockchain space today concentrate only on transactional privacy, specifically obscuring data on senders or receivers of transactions. Programmable privacy is a much more expansive vision, as a transaction is just one (trivial) type of computation. Secret Network allows applications to use encrypted inputs, encrypted outputs, and encrypted state, meaning we can enable groundbreaking new use cases for smart contracts and decentralized applications.
Similar to Ethereum's ERC-20 token standard, Secret Network has the SNIP-20 reference implementation which serves as a specification for private fungible tokens based on CosmWasm on Secret Network. The name and design is loosely based on Ethereum’s ERC-20 & ERC-777 standards, and a superset of CosmWasm’s CW-20.
Secret Tokens are a powerful concept - they’re programmable like ERC-20s and usable in applications, but they remain private-by-default like Monero and similar coins. They can represent off-chain assets, or they can be fully native to Secret Network. Anyone can create a token, which can then be transferred between wallets and used in smart contracts.
There are already a number of uses for Secret Tokens within the Secret Network ecosystem. These include:
- Unlock programmable privacy for supported tokens on other blockchains via Secret Bridges
- Trade, save, and invest on Secret Finance, privacy-preserving DeFi applications built on Secret Network
- Mint SecretNFTs, NFTs with private metadata built on Secret Network
There are many more products being developed which will further utilize the potential of Secret Tokens for DeFi, NFTs and beyond.
Viewing Keys
Key to programmable privacy is viewing keys generated from user's private keys. Empowering them to decrypt their own transactions, and share access to their "secrets" as need be. Secret Network’s vision is to create an environment with privacy-by-default. This means that individuals should have control of the level of privacy as opposed to complete transparency or complete privacy. This is also critical to build a compliant financial ecosystem.
“Viewing Keys” are used to validate the identity of someone who queries a specific account. They can be generated to allow third parties, including other contracts, to view an individual’s balance. These will be particularly important in the current environment to enable individuals to provide relevant data to auditors, wallets and explorers when users opt-in to share this information.
When interacting with Secret Tokens, all transactions (including the recipient and the amount transferred) and rolling balances are kept encrypted, ensuring both anonymity and confidentiality. Individuals must generate a “viewing key” in order to reveal these values, and can choose to share this with third parties for compliance situations.
It should be noted that minting and burning Secret Tokens are public transactions and could be observed on-chain. For example, the minting of sSCRT will require SCRT which is a public token.
Secret Bridges
Secret Bridges connect Secret Network with other blockchain networks to allow holders from various ecosystems to create privacy-preserving versions (Secret Tokens) of their asset. Interoperability has always been an important part of growing the connectivity and effectiveness of various blockchains. Secret Network has taken aggressive steps connecting Secret Bridges to as many key ecosystems as possible such as Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and a privacy-to-privacy bridge with Monero! These bridges allow to move tokens to and from their Secret Token equivalents - empowering users to have privacy and direct access to Secret DeFi (such as SecretSwap.io).
Learn more about the Plasm and Terra bridge that is currently being built.
Secret Bridges utilizes a 3 of 5 multisig authorization process. This means that 3 out of 5 parties trusted with operating the bridge are required to approve a transaction across the bridge. These bridge operators are very reputable staking operators - Figment, Staked, B-Harvest, Citadel.one and Enigma.
Bridge operators are responsible for watching the chain for new events. Once a new event is found, one of the bridge operators proposes a transaction, which is then confirmed by other operators. The multisig authorization process makes it significantly more difficult for the Secret Bridge to be compromised by removing the single point of failure associated with having a single approver.
Multichain Interoperable Privacy Hub
Secret Network’s mission is to become the go-to multichain interoperable privacy hub. This vision of the future involves many different blockchains with specific purposes, all of which benefit from being able to use private data safely and securely. Secret Network is already providing access to programmable privacy to multiple blockchain networks. As new Secret Bridges are developed, Secret Network will continue to expand and further solidify its footprint as the privacy hub for all blockchains.
Secret Contract Use Cases
With Secret Contracts, privacy and security can be directly integrated into the following use cases:
- Variable lending products
- Private orderbook exchange (Dark Pools)
- Fixed income products
- Credit scoring and undercollateralized lending (combining Web2 with Web3)
- Advanced privacy-preserving automated market-makers (SecretSwap is already live and a great example of this)
- Insurance products
- Decentralized Substack
- Dead man switch
- Data marketplaces
- Secret NFTs
- Privacy-preserving voting
- Private oracle solutions
- Privacy-preserving stablecoins
What are Secret NFTs?
Secret NFTs are one of the most compelling use cases of Secret Network on the horizon. Secret NFTs and non-fungible tokens with programmable privacy features that live on Secret Network. Perhaps one of the most confusing words in all of blockchain / crypto, “fungibility” is not just a spectrum. It’s a complex idea with a simple premise: things are always either the same or different. If exchanging two items would be meaningless, they are fungible. For example, if you and I both give each other a dollar, the only difference would be the serial numbers and relevant context of minting. You might say dollars are mostly fungible, but perhaps non-fungible if you care about the serial number or how they were created.
With Secret NFTs, validation of fungibility happens without opening verifiability to everyone. In other words, verifiable ownership of goods and experiences does not have to be public! On Secret Network, the process of validation occurs without compromising any private data, including proofs of authenticity and transfers. This way, our ecosystem is flipping the script of crypto art, in order to empower content creators and protect digital rights!
Secret NFTs were designed based on the Ethereum ERC721 token standard and maintain many positive characteristics of traditional NFTs. These unique items can be used for a variety of purposes, but generally, we believe tokens ought to be private if they represent our personal goods and experiences.
The ideas listed and Secret NFTs are just beginning to scratch the surface of what is possible. Secret DeFi is thriving, along with so many other interesting Web3 verticals. Curious about Secret Applications you can use right now? Check out the Secret Network ecosystem page to learn more. Wondering what the Secret Network ecosystem consists of? Check out the ecosystem profiles repo hosted by the community!
Funded Grants (10)
- SNIP-721 Reference Implementation: private fungible token standard
- Secret Monero Bridge: bringing DeFi for Monero
- Fardels: privacy-preserving decentralized social network for sharing
- SecretPY: python library for SecretJS
- Secret Contract Code Verification System: secret contract validation
- SecretNet: Secret Library for Unity3D
- Secret Heroes: Secret NFT based hero battling game
- Prediction Market Module: SecretSwap Prediction Market
- Griptape.js: front-end framework for developing Secret Apps
- SILK: Private algorithmic stablecoin
So What Now?
The past year since Secret Network has launched has proved that Secret Network is functional and powerful. The next few years will prove that you can’t build without Secret. Privacy is essential to the security and the growth of Web3 beyond its early stages of adoption. Specifically, users and developers require “programmable privacy”: the ability to choose which data is public and which data is private, to whom, and under which circumstances, even in a permissionless environment.
The importance of privacy is often misunderstood, but it is essential to understand the point. None of this vision is about building a world where everything is private from everyone all of the time. It’s not about creating silos, or hiding yourself, or staying out of sight. By introducing programmable privacy, we seek to destroy data silos, empower users, and free people around the world to pursue growth and experiment - letting them use and build never-before-possible permissionless applications.
We believe protecting privacy is what allows people to truly express themselves and find freedom in their own identities without fear. Isn’t that the mission of building Web3?
This can be your mission too. Become a Secret Agent, build Secret Apps, run Secret Nodes, and help create and secure the privacy platform for the decentralized web.
Secret Network welcomes you fully. And there’s never been a more explosive moment to start building alongside us.
Whether you’re a developer, an artist, a writer, an entrepreneur, or a dreamer, there are many ways for you to contribute to Secret Network. Come talk with our community about Secret Network, privacy-preserving applications, and how we can enable a more human-centric, sustainable, decentralized future.
Become a Secret Agent.
Check out the community page.
Onwards and Upwards!
To discuss Secret Network and Secret Apps, visit our community channels:
