Posted March 13, 2022
SECRET NETWORK PROJECT REVIEW
SECRET NETWORK PROJECT REVIEW
Learn all about the crypto project that balanced privacy and regulation.
One of the main goals of the crypto sector is to find a balance between transparency and privacy.
This used to be simple in the past because the transactions on the blockchain were publicly visible, but the people behind the addresses that made those transactions were anonymous.
Today, there are many companies that are specialize in analyzing these transactions.
Some governments are even one step away from introducing an obligation to tie a personal identity to a crypto wallet.
Many in the crypto space rightly consider this unacceptable and that is in conflict with one of the main foundations of the crypto sector.
However, the fact is that a certain degree of supervision is necessary if large institutions and the public will fully accept cryptocurrencies.
On the one hand, we have privacy-oriented cryptocurrencies like Monero, and on the other hand, we have completely “regulatory” harmonized cryptocurrencies like Stellar.
Among them is one of the best balanced projects, and that is the Secret Network.
WHAT IS THE SECRET NETWORK?
The Secret Network is the first blockchain to offer completely private smart contracts.
This means that all inputs and outputs of smart contracts are fully encrypted.
Transactions made on secret smart contracts can’t even be seen by the nodes running the Secret Network blockchain.
However, the original SCRT cryptocurrency of the Secret Network is not a privacy coin like Monero (XMR).
All transactions performed by SCRT are as publicly visible as those on Bitcoin or Ethereum.
In contrast, Secret tokens released on the Secret Network by default preserve privacy like Monero.
The Secret Network believes that this balance of transparency and privacy is what is needed for cryptocurrencies to achieve mainstream adoption.
It also unlocks multiple use cases for cryptocurrencies that were previously unavailable due to blockchain transparency.
The Secret Network uses the Tendermint Byzantine Fault Tolerant consensus mechanism, Delegated Proof-of-Stake.
Like Cosmos, the Secret Network processes the block every 6-7 seconds and can process close to 10,000 transactions per second.
SECRET ECOSYSTEM
SECRET TOKENS
Secret tokens can be created using the SNIP-20 standard.
This token standard is similar to Ethereum’s ERC-20 standard, except that all Secret tokens have their privacy preserved by default.
Secret tokens are used in secret smart contracts.
Secret token holders will have access to something called a Viewing Key that can be given to third parties to prove ownership of their secret tokens if needed.
The purpose of this is to enable compliance with regulators, if necessary.
The first secret token is the secret SCRT.
SECRET FINANCE
Viewing keys are also used in Secret Finance, the DeFi section of the Secret Network.
In addition to using Secret smart contracts and issuing private Secret tokens, all this would be in vain if the blockchain explorer himself revealed all the financial data of the wallet address.
What Secret Finance is doing is privatizing that data that can only be seen by someone who has access to viewing keys.
This is done so that regulators and auditors can be satisfied, while still maintaining the privacy of information from other participants in the system.
It also prevents front running, where bad actors can see what transactions are happening or have yet to happen, thus increasing the transaction fee to make sure their transactions are conducted first.
Another risk is MEV, or Miner Extractable Value, where miners decide which transactions to add to the blockchain, thus giving themselves an advantage.
Here are the functions that token owners can perform on Secret Finance:
- Swap secret tokens
- Providing liquidity for secret token sets to earn attractive returns
- Peer-to-peer privately exchange assets
SECRET NFTs
The Secret Network also joined the hype around NFTs.
The key difference between ordinary NFT and that on the Secret Network is, once again, the emphasis on privacy.
This means private metadata such as unlocking hidden elements that increase the uniqueness (and possible rarity) of NFT and private property for individuals who do not want the whole world to know what they own through their wallet address and access control.
This gives creators the ability to create a version of NFT just for the display that comes with a watermark or thumbnail before purchase compared to getting the full version after purchase.
Probably that level of security prompted Quentin Tarantino to launch his Pulp Fiction NFT project on the Secret Network.
After gaining cult status over the years, the film has enough “hardcore” fans to raise the price of NFT, especially since the content of NFT is available for viewing only to its owner.
Pulp Fiction NFTs contain special scenes not shown in the film, which is one of the best applications of NFTs we’ve seen so far.
Secret NFTs are certainly not for those who seek the right to brag, but for those who truly value their privacy.
If you’re interested in Secret NFTs, go to Stashh, Secret Network’s own NFT market, and get some privacy-enabled NFTs.
One of their more popular collections is Anons, where every NFT person is faceless. The starting price is around $ 670 up to $ 800,000.
SCRT LABS
SCRT Labs is the organization that builds the Secret Network.
Their mission is to create decentralized products that prioritize privacy, which is a little different compared to other blockchains like Solana and Avalanche, where the focus is more on the scalability and bandwidth of transactions.
This does not mean that the Secret Network is not designed with scalability in mind, but they are also focused on privacy, which makes the project unique in the blockchain space.
The team behind the Secret Network is known as SCRT Labs.
Their official website lists 8 departments, from administration to software engineers.
A review of their LinkedIn profiles shows their expertise and focus on cyber security.
FINANCING THE SECRET ECOSYSTEM
Secret Labs has gathered around this great idea rich investors who are willing to finance them.
On January 19, 2022, they announced funding for their $ 400 million ecosystem – including a new $ 225 million ecosystem fund and a $ 175 million accelerator fund – with new investments by DeFiance Capital, Alamed Research, CoinFund, HashKey and others.
This announcement continues a growth initiative called Shockwave, establishing the Secret Network as a data privacy hub for Web3.
The Ecosystem Fund is run by SCRT Labs and features contributions from 25 organizations, including: DeFiance Capital, Alameda Research, CoinFund, HashKey, Hashed, Arrington Capital, Dragonfly Capital Partners, Fenbushi Capital, Skyvision Capital, Blocktower Capital, Terraform Venture Labs, NGC Ventures, Figment, Arkstream Capital, Shima Capital, Magnus Capital, Bison Fund, Momentum6, Arca, Iconium, Huobi Ventures, Kucoin Labs and Skynet Trading.
Developers around the world are now invited to join Secret in their mission to create the next generation of Secret applications that will protect and empower millions of global users.
They are committed to supporting and mentoring participants at every stage.
CONCLUSION
The Secret Network is perhaps one of the most important projects in the crypto sector.
This is because they have developed a protocol that has found a seemingly perfect balance between transparency and privacy.
If you currently want to preserve your privacy in the space of cryptocurrencies, how to do it?
Use privacy tokens like Monero and others that hide the history of transactions and balances of your choice or by default.
Almost every other cryptocurrency has a completely public record of all transactions and balances.
The problem is that this extreme of privacy is not ideal because the option of transparency is necessary for regulators and institutions to get involved.
However, these same institutions and regulators are also not too interested in a completely public blockchain because they too want to be able to maintain a certain degree of privacy.
Another advantage of the Secret Network is that its SCRT token is completely transparent while all actions involving secret tokens or secret contracts are completely private.
So it’s possible to turn to regulators and say, “you can see how much money I’m investing and how much money I’m withdrawing, but what I do with that money within that network is none of your business”.
This degree of transparency should be sufficient to satisfy regulators, while allowing companies to preserve their privacy as well.
This has been the Secret Network’s main selling point from the start, and it’s a value that can’t be underestimated.
As for the development part of the project, they have a functional product and a committed community.
Although the tokenism of SCRT is not entirely ideal, what the Secret Network wants to achieve here goes beyond price action.
They created a template for the future of cryptocurrency privacy and transparency.
As they continue to build bridges to other blockchains, this project could become the standard in this regard.