With gradual steps to global adoption, Blockchain is widely regarded as a disruptive technology. Its consistency in terms of implementing change in almost every endeavor of life has given birth to its footprint in practically every sector, but like any newly adopted technology, it has weaknesses.

As of its current posture, a vast majority of blockchains operate via the use of public ledgers. What this means is that being an open source, anybody can check the number of digital assets held in a particular wallet which of course relates to a particular individual, the accounts it has interacted with, when the interaction took place and what the current balance reflects.

When paired with the multiple blockchain analytics and address tracking efforts underway, widespread KYC demands, and the delicate risk of data misuse or leaks, the public ledger can be a weaponized system of destruction rather than a succor for many blockchain use cases.

Concerns around data breaches, misuse, dissemination, and privacy in all forms have been a concern for a couple of years and it gave rise to the birth of the Secret Network. Software application developers now have a way to leverage all the benefits of blockchain technology, without any of the privacy risks.

This piece of article will explore the fundamental concept of Secret Network and what it represents, how it works in terms of user privacy, the core team behind the project, and its useful features among others.

What Is Secret Network?

Secret Network is an independent, base-layer blockchain network built using the Cosmos Software Development Kit (SDK) that improves upon traditional smart contracts by encrypting inputs at a protocol level and maintaining privacy for information collected within DApps.

This differs from many other blockchain networks, as Secret Network encrypts user data before storing it in a smart contract. With a user’s personal information encrypted, they are given greater control over how their personal information is shared.

Launched in February 2020, Secret Network is a dynamic new blockchain platform that addresses one of the persistent problems in the blockchain space - the lack of user privacy.

While most projects come up with several use cases, Secret Network was built to provide an alternative route to public blockchain platforms. The reason behind this build-up is that public blockchain platforms have been plagued by cost problems from centralized service providers, data mining corporations, and government censorship. With the help of Secret Network, developers can build applications that foster full privacy for end users.

Also, with blockchain analysis efforts, widespread surveillance, and other threats to personal privacy becoming increasingly common, it is becoming more and more difficult to build and use blockchain-based tools and services without running the risk of being watched. This not only limits the utility users can extract from these platforms but also poses a major barrier to user adoption.

More so, with the technology powering up the blockchain, surveillance and analysis have been on the high side over time and have also led to threats regarding personal privacy. This sort of structure has made it gradually difficult to build and use blockchain-based tools and services without running the risk of being monitored. From a broader perspective, this will not only limit the utility which users can extract from this platform but also pose a major blockade to user adoption.

Lastly, the applaudable deed of Secret Network has paved a pathway for developers to build the next generation of blockchain-based applications that will be private by default. Its programmable privacy ethos will aid in enabling all the use cases that make blockchain so promising, including non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

Who Is Building the Secret Network?

Secret Network is a decentralized community-developed project that is developed and maintained by a large number of contributors across the globe.

Within the community, third-party individuals or organizations that help contribute to Secret Network are regarded as Secret Agents. The role of these agents is to bring a variety of talents to the table, such as development expertise, design skills, etc. To operate efficiently, the agents are classified into various communities. This set of communities includes:

• Awareness Committee: This committee is saddled with the responsibility of organizing secret agents to grow the Secret Network community and user base via a good number of initiatives.
• Developers Committee: The role here is for the developers to improve documentation, onboard contributors, and build useful Secret Apps.
• Education Committee: This committee does well to develop some of the educational materials and content used to advocate and promote Secret Network.

As a budding project with lofty insight, Secret Network is not without sponsorship and aid from contributors.

Enigma MPC stands as one of the most prominent contributors who are currently working hard to support and equip the network’s core protocol functionality. According to Secret Network, the long drive will witness the deployment and development of new secret apps for the platform.

Some other core development contributors include Figment, Citadel.One, and WhisperNode. Just like the idea of blockchain consensus, Secret Network isn’t owned or managed by any single player and has no centralized team.

How Does Secret Network Work? DPoS and Trusted Execution Environments (TEE)

Being backed by a decentralized network of nodes that maintains the security of the network through a delegated proof of stake-based mechanism, Secret Network is completely open source and permissionless, that is anyone can start building on it to leverage its programmable privacy features.

Secret Network makes use of a decentralized network of computers known as secret nodes to provide anonymized and encrypted computation resources.

To have a better grip on how it works, the platform accomplishes this through the use of isolated enclaves known as trusted execution environments (TEE). TEE allows the node to process and transfer data without it being noticed or exposed during the process. When this is successfully done, developers will be able to build capable DApps on the secure computation layer to power a range of good use cases.

Some examples that fall into this category include decentralized exchanges, peer-to-peer lending protocols, blockchain-based games, digital art collections, and more.

Secret Network is not built out of space, it is built on the popular Cosmos SDK blockchain framework which provides an ultra-secure and efficient backbone for the platform.

Secret Network Ecosystem Roadmap

Source: Secret Network

The Secret Network thrives on an outlined roadmap. The roadmap ecosystem hosts the inclusion of DApps, Exchanges, Tools, Contributors, and Partners. Below, the full list of privacy-preserving DApps that are live and running on Secret Network across finance, gaming, and access control is given.

Secret NFTs

• ActiList: Interactive NFT marketplace with secret auctions and customizable access control.
• CertUp: Revolutionizing official document distribution, verification, and publication through Secret NFTs.
• Stashh: Mint, buy and trade the first NFTs with native privacy and access control, known as Secret NFTs.
• V-IRL: An exclusive collection of 1:1 custom shoes between Secret Network and MattB Customs.

Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

• AmberDAO: A community-driven, privacy-preserving store of value token built on Secret Network.
• BlackBox: A collection of DApps to bring together privacy and convenience.
• Selenian: Selenian Protocol helps users maximize returns on digital assets by unlocking capital efficiency across IBC.
• Serenity Shield: Serenity Shield provides a tool for backing up your seed phrase and other sensitive data, allowing recovery in an emergency event.
• Shade Protocol: An array of connected privacy-preserving DeFi applications is built on Secret Network.
• Shinobi Protocol: A protocol for generating Secret Bitcoin (sBTC)—private SNIP-20 tokens on Secret Network backed by bitcoin.
• Stake Easy: The privacy-preserving liquid staking solution for Secret Network.
• SiennaSwap (DeFi, AMM): Privacy-first & cross-chain DeFi platform. Privately swap, lend and convert your tokens into their private equivalent.
• Data Vault (DeFi, Socials): The world’s first decentralized privacy-preserving content management and data exchange protocol.

Communication

• Alter: A private and secure messaging app that protects your data and identity when communicating online.
• Fardels: Share private links, files, images, or text in packages called “Fardels”, that other users pay to unpack and view.
• Polymer: A balancer-like AMM that provides many features, competitive rates, and a zero-inflation stakeholder growth model.
• Secret Bridges: Bridges from Ethereum, Binance Smart Chain, and Monero to Secret.
• Secret Time Capsule: The first blockchain DApp to send messages and crypto coins into the future. Have fun, stake SCRTs, and maximize your rewards!

Games:

• Bushi: A competitive third-person shooter that blurs the lines between traditional games, web3 gaming, and esports.
• Onenet: An all-in-one game distribution platform for Secret Network and the Cosmos ecosystem.

DeFi, NFTs, AMM

• Btn.group: Home of Button Swap, Secret Network’s only DEX aggregator, and other DeFi apps and dapps.
• Legendao (NFTs, Games): A play-to-mint NFT platform that enables creators to launch their NFT projects in a unique, gamified way.
• Lorem Ipsum (NFTs, Games): Lorem Ipsum – the first Metaverse on Secret Network and IBC with privacy features.
• Secret Dreamscape (NFTs, Games): A multiplayer card game that combines the addictive nature of word building with the social nuance of betting games.

What Is the Secret Token (SCRT)?

Like many other projects that spring up with amazing use cases, the SCRT token is a digital asset that provides investors with a means of investing in the future of blockchain technology. The token of the Secret Network is based on the ERC-20 standard. This token can however be bought and sold on exchanges that support ERC tokens.

Instead of building a structure within the confines of the financial sector, as well as becoming an integral part of the Secured Credit ecosystem, the SCRT Token enables users to access Secured Credit products and services. And like Decentralized Autonomous Organisations (DAOs), SCRT token holders are enabled to take part in governance decisions via the Secured Credit protocol.

The Secured Credit protocol is built as a decentralized lending platform that is thoroughly designed on the Ethereum blockchain. What this protocol does is that it aids the lenders to make available this credit to borrowers with the use of crypto assets as basic collateral. These collaterals further help in abating enormous risk for the lenders, thereby making it feasible to provide loans with lower interest rates.

So here is a summary of what the holders are eligible to do. The SCRT token holders can:

• Play a part in governance decisions about the Secured Credit protocol;
• Earn rewards for participating in the Secured Credit network;
• Use this token to access Secured Credit products and services, including credit lines, loans, and merchant services;
• Get discounts on fees when utilizing the Secured Credit protocol.

An extra spice to the framework of Secret Tokens is that it allows its users to make any coin or blockchain token privacy-preserving. What this feels like is more of giving one’s tokens a latent value.

From the moment the individual’s asset like ETH, BNB, or COMP is turned into Secret Tokens, details like token balance and sending/receiving wallet addresses are encrypted. This translates to the essence of the discussion here in terms of user privacy. Wrapping Coins as Secret Tokens immediately supercharges them with private balances and private transfers.

How Do Secret Tokens Work?

As stated earlier, Secret Tokens are programmable more like other digital tokens like Ethereum’s ERC-20 that go handy with encrypted input, output, and state. The outlined details below are kept hidden from outside observers:

• The Users Secret Token balance
• The Number of tokens minted
• Wallet addresses + amounts during transfers

As a matter of fact, the very thing that stays publicly visible on the ledger is the user’s interaction with the Secret Token smart contract. This is so due to the underlying fact that the native coin of Secret Network (SCRT) is open-ended without encryption, and is needed to pay for gas on the network.

What are the Secret NFTs?

To fully understand what a secret NFT is, let’s define what an NFT itself is. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are cryptographic assets on a blockchain with unique identification codes and metadata that distinguish them from each other.

Having gone through the definition above, Secret NFTs are non-fungible tokens that can be used in representing ownership of digital assets privately. The tokens of Secret NFTs are the same as regular NFTs, but the difference here is that they use different mechanisms to hide the details of the asset’s owner. This goes on to make them a perfect deal for use cases where privacy is required swiftly.

Secret NFTs are developed with leverage on different protocols. In that sense, each of them comes with benefits, while some are inadequate. Among all, the most popular protocols for building Secret NFTs are Ethereum’s ring signatures, Zcash’s zk-SNARKS, and Bitcoin’s Confidential Transactions. All the above listings offer various levels of privacy but zk-SNARKS provides the highest level of anonymity.

While this is defined, it can also be of benefit to any user. Secret NFTs have an enormous length of potential use cases that range from offering privacy for high-value digital assets to aiding some confidential transactions on decentralized exchanges. Later, Secret NFTs may also be used to develop anonymous voting networks or to help in protecting the privacy of sensitive data.

What Problem Does Secret Network Solve?

With the belief that privacy is a fundamental human right that is key to the long-term success of blockchain technology as well as the apps built on it, Secret Network envisions a future where decentralized applications can efficiently operate in a completely private environment where it redistributes to its users, the freedom to interact, and avoids the worry of prying eyes.

With this concern taken care of, Secret Network will usher users into a future where privacy is interwoven into everything by default. Secret Network will introduce a solution such that anonymity is paramount with the aid of smart contracts which are cost-based and allow competition over private data.

Unique Features of Secret Network

Secret Network operates with some unique features which are designed to provide a secure, stable, and acceptable platform for hosting private decentralized applications. The platform adds these distinct features to also help in accomplishing its goal of delivering programmable privacy to the masses at large. These include:

• Private smart contracts:

Secret Network’s premium feature is its non-disclosed smart contracts. This is achieved by summing up secure key management and encryption protocols with a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) to securely process and share encrypted data over the blockchain.

• Improved usability:

As opposed to other platforms that get affected by severe performance issues due to limited throughput and congestion, Secret Network capitalizes on the ultra-efficient Tendermint consensus engine and a decentralized validator network to assist more than 10,000 transactions per second (tps).

• Interoperability:

Secret Network is developed with the knowledge that no individual blockchain or platform will remain dominant in the future. Instead, an interoperable and interactive landscape of platforms is a far more likely scenario. With this prospect in mind, Secret Network is set to integrate the gigantic InterBlockchain Communication Protocol (ICP), allowing it to interoperate with the rest of the Cosmos ecosystem.

• Community governance:

Secret Network is a community-owned collaborative endeavor. Instead of this, users can share in the governance of the network economy by delegating their SCRT to a validator that votes on their behalf about community-tabled governance proposals. With this, users can help shape the evolution of the network.

• Grant Program:

Secret Network helps in the funding of promising new endeavors as it keeps building on its solution through generous grants. This funding runs into thousands of United States dollars.

Is SCRT a Good Investment?

Digital footprints have gradually evolved into what it is today. While inventions spring forth at the dawn of each day, the need to have a sense of privacy abounds. Data usage and information gathering virtually take place on a good number of platforms and to this end, one can imagine the enormous quantity of information littered over the online space.

With the concerns that users’ data can be weaponized against the users in terms of the information they give out, privacy models and innovations cannot be out of place which will certainly serve as the missing piece of the jigsaw puzzle and Secret Network is here to play that role. All that is left of to be a part of what Secret Network is, is building an all-fit-in-one community where you can also register your data footprints without a streak of fear.

How to Own SCRT?

One way to own FTM is to go through a crypto centralized exchange, so the first step is to create a Gate.io account and complete the KYC process. Once you have added funds to your account, check out the steps to buy FTM on the spot or derivatives market.

News on Secret Network

As stated by the Secret Network project staff in November 2022, a new protocol upgrade is going to be launched in December: it is the ‘Shockwave Omega Mainnet Upgrade’. This is another important step towards the long-awaited Secret 2.0, which will include new cryptographic solutions, companion networks, enclave hardening, and more. The team is specifically looking into fully homomorphic encryption (FHE) as a viable option for enhancing Secret as a privacy center. The rest of the development should involve an expansion of the network ecosystem. Omega will be the third and final upgrade in our Shockwave series, with both previous iterations bringing significant improvements to the Secret Network. Shockwave Delta offered new types of interoperability, including enabling private computation for contracts on different IBC chains, whereas Shockwave Alpha significantly increased performance for a number of crucial network operations.

Useful References

For the latest updates about Secret Network, you can visit:

• The official website
• Twitter
• GitHub
• Telegram
• Discord

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