Secret Network

Secret Network offers scalable, permissionless smart contracts focusing on privacy by default, enabling use cases not possible on public blockchains. Built using the Cosmos SDK, it integrates privacy features across the Cosmos and EVM ecosystems through technologies like Intel SGX and various encryption schemes. It supports Rust-based smart contracts with private metadata options. ^[2]

Overview

Secret Network enables customizable privacy on the blockchain, allowing users to control what data they share, with whom, and for how long, providing enhanced security for decentralized web adoption. Built with the Cosmos SDK and Tendermint consensus engine, it supports private, permissionless smart contracts. It uses encryption and Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) technology to keep data secure while enabling decentralized consensus without exposing sensitive information.

The network supports "Secret Contracts" for private metadata computation, offering unique use cases like encrypted data storage, private NFTs, and privacy-respecting DeFi. Its native SCRT coin is used for gas fees, governance, and staking, while wrapped tokens (SNIP-20) ensure transaction privacy. Secret Network focuses on programmable privacy, distinguishing it from protocols like Monero and Zcash, and is supported by a global developer community. ^[1]

Features

Secret Contracts

Secret Contracts are built using the CosmWasm framework, which allows developers to write smart contracts in Rust that compile to WebAssembly (Wasm), providing an efficient and secure way to execute them. While Secret Contracts are similar to standard CosmWasm contracts, they differ in handling encrypted data, secure enclaves, and key management, ensuring privacy for the contract's input, output, and state.

A Secret contract consists of four key components:

Instantiate - Runs the initialization logic, setting up the contract's initial conditions and configuration.
Execute - Contains the transactional logic to modify contract data.
Query - Provides read-only functions that do not alter contract data.
State/storage - Stores contract data persistently, with default behavior ensuring that data is retained between transactions.

These components enable secure and private contract execution on the Secret Network while maintaining compatibility with other Cosmos-based smart contract networks. ^[3]

Secret AI

Secret AI is a decentralized confidential computing solution designed to provide trusted AI interactions while ensuring user privacy. Built on the Secret Network, it uses NVIDIA Confidential Computing with Trusted Execution Environment (TEE) to protect user data and metadata in AI conversations. It offers a secure platform that prevents data leakage and unauthorized access.

By leveraging Secret Network's infrastructure, Secret AI ensures that all user interactions, including payments, model access, and worker earnings, are recorded on the network and kept private. Smart contracts govern it and use SNIP-20 tokens for payments, ensuring economic security through the network. ^[4]

SRCT

SCRT is the native coin of Secret Network. It serves multiple purposes, such as paying transaction and computational fees, staking with validators to secure the network and earn rewards, and participating in community governance. Interactions involving SCRT, like gas payments, NFT minting, and swaps, are publicly verifiable on-chain, though private metadata can be incorporated through Secret Tokens.

The utility of SCRT extends across several areas:

Governance: SCRT is used for voting in the network’s governance system, where staked SCRT represents voting power.
Staking and Inflation: SCRT is staked to secure the network, with inflation rewards distributed to stakers and validators. The tokenomics ensure a sustainable environment, with dynamic inflation rates based on staking ratios.
Gas Fees: SCRT is also used to pay gas fees for processing transactions. These fees incentivize validators and are distributed to stakers, driving utility to the SCRT coin. ^[5]

Private Tokens

The SNIP-20 standard on Secret Network allows non-private tokens to be wrapped into their private, fungible equivalents, providing complete confidentiality through viewing keys via Secret Contracts. For example, SCRT can be wrapped into sSCRT (secretSCRT), ensuring that transactions involving wrapped tokens like sSCRT remain private, without visibility into the sender or recipient.

All native tokens on Secret Network, such as SHD, SEFI, ALTER, and SIENNA, are SNIP-20 tokens with privacy by default. Similarly, bridged tokens from other networks, like sATOM, sETH, and sBNB, also benefit from privacy by default. ^[5]