History
June 2015
Guy Zyskind publishes the first two papers about secure and private decentralized computation from Research at Enigma/MIT. "Decentralizing Privacy: Using Blockchain to Protect Personal Data" describes how with encrypted inputs and access control blockchain can bring back privacy to users of distributed technologies like the internet. "Enigma: Decentralized Computation Platform with Guaranteed Privacy" describes how secure Multi-Party Computation could enable a new private blockchain solution dubbed Enigma. At this moment in time when Enigma has its first public mention.
Enigma does an ICO and raises $45m to build the decentralized privacy solution proposed in 2015.
January 2020
Developers and community members of Enigma realize the importance of instant-finality and privacy by default on a layer 1. A decision is made to bring the privacy-as-a-service layer Secret Network to the Cosmos ecosystem.
Over 20 independent genesis validators launched a new blockchain that came to be known as Secret Network. This mainnet is a proof-of-stake blockchain based on Cosmos SDK / Tendermint and secured by a new native coin, Secret (SCRT). The collective vision for this blockchain was to create a privacy-first chain that would allow smart contracts to utilize private and sensitive data. The network would utilize privacy technologies that could enable secure computation over encrypted data.
A mainnet upgrade made Secret Network the only blockchain running live smart contracts with encrypted inputs, outputs, and state. That is possible because every node operator validating the network activity uses a secure enclave – the same type of technology securing your fingerprint on your smartphone. You can think of Secret Network as combining the programmability of Ethereum with the privacy of Zcash. This capability for "programmable privacy" now allows developers to begin building their own permissionless and privacy-preserving “Secret Apps.”
Since this upgrade, more and more use cases have been built and deployed, most notably the SNIP-20 standard for Secret Tokens. Several implementations of this standard were launched, including secretSCRT (a privacy-preserving variant of SCRT), community tokens (such as FAT SCRT, sALT, and many others), and thanks to the Secret Ethereum Bridge, a wide variety of Ethereum assets (including ETH and many other prominent ERC-20 tokens). Other use-cases showcasing the power of Secret Contracts (such as Secret Auctions, private-voting, and Secret Vaults) have been deployed to the network, and many other use-cases are currently being built.
the Secret Ethereum Bridge brought the power of programmable privacy to ETH and ERC-20s at low cost.
SecretSwap launched on the Secret Network mainnet, the first AMM (Automated Market Maker) to be launched in our ecosystem and a one-of-a-kind product for the blockchain space. This is a critical piece of Secret DeFi, unlocking new liquidity for secret tokens!
Sienna Network launches its first application on the Secret Network mainnet called SiennaSwap. Also ALTER launched on-chain, the first verifiable user-side encrypted communication platform. This time is also when the first Secret NFT comes on-chain. The SNIP-721 standard is used as the base for the well**-**known Anons NFT.
The Supernova upgrade brings privacy to the Interchain by enabling IBC for the Secret Network. SCRT can now freely flow to other Cosmos SDK chains like Osmosis, and the Cosmos HUB. Both SiennaSwap and SecretSwap enable DEX listings for sATOM, sOSMO, sDVPN, and more. November also marks the date where SCRT labs announces their collaboration with Quentin Tarantino for the TarantinoNFTs
The Stashh NFT marketplace launches bringing many different artists to the Secret Network blockchain and giving the Cosmos ecosystem its first taste of the utility and interest that comes with SecretNFTs.
Secret Network announces the next phase of growth with a $400M ecosystem fund for builders as part of the Shockwave initiative
Shade protocol launches its token SHD in a cross-chain airdrop and the SCRT token lists on several high-profile exchanges like Kraken, Huobi, Kucoin, and FTX. At this time Kevin Smith also announces his collaboration with SCRT labs and LegenDAO to launch the first NFT feature film "Killroy was Here".
SiennaLend launches on Secret Network. The only private on-chain lending solution in the world.
Secret Network completes the Shockwave Alpha upgrade bringing 200x improvements to cryptographic verifications like cross-chain airdrops and query permits while also enabling the Cosmos "interchain accounts" module and enabling the CosmWasm StateSync module. The network also increased its active validator set to 80, allowing for many known faces to enter the community.
The Shockwave Delta upgrade brings CosmWasm v1.0 and with that Interchain contracts. Privacy as a Service is a reality and Cosmos chains can start easily integrating Secret network True randomness, private voting and many other usecases. After a small bugfix Snip-20 tokens also get the option to move cross-chain of which many are now accesible on DEXs all over the cosmos.
Secret summit and a new Ecosystem roadmap show the inmense progress on the Secret application layer. New applications like Eqoty music, Bidshop, Prifi labs, Bushi gaming, Serenity shield, Yoiu, Actilist, kado, Fina and Blizzard pitch their project and showcase their innovative ideas to the Secret community. Find a summary of the secret summit in this playlist.
SCRT labs launches the Shockwave omega upgrade containing a new smart contract engine dubbed Wasm3 increasing contract throughput by ~5x. An extra emphasis also went into the testing of gas consumption of the varying contract elements to better protect the network against exceptionally high computational load.
Additionally the Secret Agency DAO joins as an extra registered NPO in the network helping applications, developers and users with leveraging Secret Network for their success.
2023 will be the year of Secret2.0 initiative signalling the completion of the initial whitepaper and looking into the future. Together with the Blog #beyondZK Part-2 a clear roadmap is lined out for adding cryptographic primitives and additional functionality to the Secret blockchain.
on the first of March Secret network upgrades to v1.7 bringing seed rotation upon upgrade to the network. This feature allows the network as a whole to select new randomness from which the network encryption keys are generated completely mitigating impact on the future state of any potential past encryption key leaks and SGX breaks.
The auto-restaking feature also brings native autocompounding to the network while light client verification inside the enclave improves the trusted data landscape for contract developers opening up many more usecases and added privacy.
March also saw the Announcement of Secret Admirers and the launch of the first Privacy as a Service application "The locker" - a seedphrase backup solution by Prifi labs.
Fina launched the beta of their Debit card while Starshell launched full hardware wallet support and mobile Apps. Secret now has 2 dedicated wallets powering its Ecosystem with additional privacy and more features.
HackSecret also brought more than 50 developers to Secret hacking away at a DeFi competition with Sponsors like Shade and whitewhale to earn more than 50k USD in prizes.
Last but not least April saw the launch of Shade protocol with their Swap and Stablecoin SILK. Secret surge provided additional incentives and Secret networks TVL did a 10x in roughly 1 month. Shade proves Private DeFi can be both more secure and intuitive to use while Axelar bridge integration brings in more accesible liquidity with a better security model than the old bridge.
We also saw the migration of tokens to SNIP-25 - a new Secret token version protecting against additional privacy risks.
June sees the announcement of a new Executive director for the new secret foundation NPO. Lisa Loud joins the ecosystem to lead secret to a succesfull Secret2.0 and Privacy as a Service campaign.
Additionally the version 1.9 upgrade brings Secret-VRF, the first of many Privacy as a Service APIs accesible cross-IBC and even on EVM. Meanwhile Yoiu launches on mainnet with the Fina IDO and Airdrop following suit.
Last modified 3mo ago