Secret Network’s Privacy-Focused Smart Contracts Move a Step Closer to Going Live

The Secret Network will deploy its “secret contracts” on the live blockchain Sept. 15, pending passage by the community, Tor Bair, the Secret Foundation’s executive director and chairman, said. 

Secret contracts are a type of smart contract that allows private data to be used in decentralized applications without revealing the raw data. A formal proposal to introduce the contracts will be made on Sept. 8.

• The inputs, outputs, and network state are encrypted in a secret contract, which means the data is hidden even on a public blockchain. It is also invisible to the nodes executing the contract.

• The upgrade would be significant as it would make Secret Network the first main blockchain architecture that enables users to do general purpose privacy computation across nodes equipped with secure enclaves.

• Secure enclaves are isolated areas within a hardware device where sensitive data is encrypted and inaccessible to other parts of the CPU.

• The network is building connections to Ethereum, Cosmos Hub and other blockchain networks, with the aim of bringing “programmable privacy” to a wider array of protocols, according to Bair's blog post Friday.

• The Secret Network made this announcement in advance of the mainnet launch so validators can coordinate due to the size of the upgrade, according to Bair.

• “We believe that programmable privacy is the critical missing piece to global adoption of public blockchains and open financial systems," said Bair.

Read more: Community Behind Privacy-Focused Smart Contract Forges Ahead After Settlement