# Blockchain Technology

Blockchain technology is a complex base layer allowing open-source protocols and decentralized applications to be built on top of it. Secret is a sovereign layer 1 of the Cosmos ecosystem built with the Cosmos SDK.

This section will walk you through the Secret technology stack to get a better understanding of what’s under the hood of the privacy hub for Web3. This "Blockchain technology" section starts with a quick grasp of the different blockchain layers are and an explanation of the Cosmos stack

In this section we will explain in depth the components of the blockchain stack:

* [Cosmos introduction](/secret-network-documentation/introduction/secret-network-techstack/blockchain-technology/cosmos-basics.md)
* [Tendermint Consensus](/secret-network-documentation/introduction/secret-network-techstack/blockchain-technology/tendermint.md)
* [Cosmos SDK](/secret-network-documentation/introduction/secret-network-techstack/blockchain-technology/cosmos-sdk.md)
* [Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC)](/secret-network-documentation/introduction/secret-network-techstack/blockchain-technology/ibc.md)
* [CosmWasm Smart contracts](/secret-network-documentation/introduction/secret-network-techstack/blockchain-technology/cosmwasm.md)

**The Cosmos part of the Secret Techstack is also covered Part 1 and Part 2 of the Secret Network techstack video series.**

{% embed url="<https://www.youtube.com/watch?index=2&list=PLL1JDiTNCUAW_jGFyBjOFAzzTw3zKb3TM&v=Slh_QeQCvKk>" %}


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