Secret Network (SCRT) is a Cosmos-compatible Layer 1 blockchain that enables privacy-preserving “Secret Contracts” — smart contracts that process encrypted inputs and encrypted state using Intel SGX Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) — so that no party (including validators) can see the data being processed, enabling applications like private DeFi, sealed-bid auctions, confidential voting, private NFT ownership, and encrypted cross-chain bridges.
| Stat | Value |
|---|---|
| Ticker | SCRT |
| Price | $0.09 |
| Market Cap | $30.62M |
| 24h Change | +3.8% |
| Circulating Supply | 337.54M SCRT |
| All-Time High | $10.38 |
| Contract (Secret) | secret...fzek |
| Contract (Osmosis) | ibc/09...972A |
How It Works
- Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) — Validators running Secret Network nodes must use hardware (Intel SGX) that creates isolated, encrypted computation environments. Secret Contract code and inputs are executed inside SGX enclaves where even the CPU manufacturer cannot read the plaintext state.
- Secret Contracts — CosmWasm-based smart contracts that take encrypted inputs, compute over encrypted state, and return encrypted outputs. Contract state is stored encrypted on-chain.
- Key management — Each enclave holds cryptographic keys generated during a remote attestation process. Keys are shared only with other validated enclaves, forming a trusted network.
- Cosmos/IBC — Secret Network is part of the Cosmos ecosystem and supports IBC, allowing SCRT and other tokens to move between Secret Network and other Cosmos blockchains (with privacy-preserving bridge tokens).
- Secret Tokens (SNIP-20) — Secret Network implements SNIP-20, a privacy-enhanced token standard where token balances and transfers are encrypted and not visible to third-party observers (unlike standard ERC-20/CW-20 tokens).
Tokenomics
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Ticker | SCRT |
| Max Supply | None (inflationary) |
| Consensus | Tendermint DPoS |
| Launch | February 13, 2020 |
| Smart contracts | Secret Contracts (encrypted CosmWasm) |
| Token standard | SNIP-20 (private) |
Use Cases
- Private DeFi — AMM swaps, lending, and yield farming with transaction privacy.
- Sealed-bid auctions — On-chain auctions where bids are hidden until reveal.
- Confidential voting — DAO and governance votes where choices are private.
- Private NFTs — NFTs where ownership or metadata is encrypted and access-controlled.
- Cross-chain privacy — Bridge assets from Ethereum/Cosmos and maintain privacy on Secret Network.
History
- 2017 — Enigma Protocol (predecessor) conceptualized by Guy Zyskind at MIT. Proposes “secret contracts” using multi-party computation.
- 2020-02-13 — Enigma’s Secret Network (formerly “Enigma mainnet”) launches as a Cosmos SDK blockchain with SGX support. SCRT token distributed.
- 2020 — SEC charges Enigma MPC for conducting an unregistered securities offering in 2017. Enigma settles. Secret Network continues as a separate community-governed project.
- 2021 — Secret Network rebrands from Enigma to Secret Network officially. Launches Secret DeFi (SecretSwap AMM, Shade Protocol, other DApps).
- 2021 — SGX vulnerability disclosures (Plundervolt, LVI, other side-channel attacks) prompt academic discussion about TEE reliability in adversarial settings. Secret Labs addresses known vulnerabilities via software mitigations.
- 2022 — Shade Protocol (SHD) and Silk (private algorithmic stablecoin) launch on Secret Network. IBC connectivity expands.
- 2023–2025 — Secret Network continues development. SCRT market cap significant for a privacy-focused chain. Challenges around SGX key extraction attacks continue to be a research concern.
Common Misconceptions
“Secret Network uses zero-knowledge proofs for privacy.”
Secret Network uses Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs / Intel SGX) for privacy, not zero-knowledge proofs. This distinction matters: ZKPs provide cryptographic proofs; TEEs rely on hardware trust. Both approaches have different threat models.
“SGX makes Secret Contracts perfectly private.”
SGX provides strong privacy under normal threat models but has known side-channel attack vectors (Spectre, Meltdown variants, Plundervolt). Secret Labs acknowledges these risks and the security model assumes a majority-trusted validator set even under hardware attacks.
Social Media Sentiment
Secret Network has a dedicated community and is the leading privacy-smart-contract blockchain in production. Its Cosmos integration gives it cross-chain reach. The SEC settlement against the predecessor Enigma MPC created early reputational challenges. Security researchers debate the TEE threat model. Strong support from privacy advocates and frontier DeFi developers.
Last updated: 2026-04