Secret Network Blockchain the mainnet blockchain for Enigma, based on Tendermint, announced the introduction of privacy-preserving secret contracts to the Secret Network mainnet. The proposal to introduce secret contracts to mainnet will be made on September 8th, 2020. If passed by the community, the secret contracts network upgrade would take place on September 15th, 2020.
This proposed upgrade would make Secret Network the first layer-one blockchain to enable general purpose private computation across a distributed system of nodes equipped with secure enclaves. For the first time, developers will be able to build and deploy “secret” smart contracts that can utilize encrypted inputs, outputs, and state. At the same time, we’re building connections to Ethereum, Cosmos Hub, and other networks, intending to bring our capacity for “programmable privacy” to the entire blockchain universe.
Essentially, Secret Contracts enable anyone to use their private data in decentralized applications without revealing the raw data. Data being used in computations throughout Secret Network simply can’t be public. This event is the culmination of years of research and development work. The Enigma development team has worked tirelessly to bring this functionality to the Secret Network blockchain, and after a series of successful testnets, it is time to bring secret contracts fully into the world.
All blockchains, and by extension smart contracts deployed on them, have one glaring and near-fatal problem – all data stored on them is public. In that sense, traditional blockchains are worse than anything that came before them. Instead of trusting a single organization (e.g., Facebook, Google, your bank, etc.) with your data, now you have to trust everyone. For all intents and purposes, data on the blockchain becomes public domain.
Secret Networks intends to create smart contracts that not only solved for correctness, but also for privacy? Secret Networks is creating encryptoed inputs and outputs as well as network state hidden from all parties including the nodes executing the smart contract. By doing this the Secret Networks is trying to create environment where it’s safe to include sensitive data, which most real-world use cases require. This is the concept of “secret” smart contracts that Secret Network introduces.
Secret contracts allow for programmable privacy, allowing for arbitrarily complex data privacy controls to be implemented inside applications. The flexible encryption capabilities and controls offered by programmable privacy unlock the potential value of the decentralized web. It allows for privacy how you want, for anything you want, when you want it, and from whom you want it.
The Enigma development team plans to make an on-chain proposal on September 8th, 2020 to upgrade the network to include secret contracts. If this proposal has reached approval after the usual seven day voting period has expired, secret contracts will be LIVE on Secret Network on September 15th, 2020! if this is approved they will be launching some of the first secret contracts alongside this mainnet upgrade, including “secret tokens.” With secret tokens, each DeFi user actually gains more privacy with each additional DeFi service and every dollar worth of additional value locked in the ecosystem, leading to privacy network effects.
