We’re excited to announce a partnership and integration of Secret’s Confidential Computing Layer with Kakarot, an EVM-compatible ZK-Rollup that leverages Cairo to spearhead innovations on Ethereum. Through this partnership, Secret Network will provide Kakarot with confidential computing tooling, documentation, and support. This will unlock brand new capabilities for applications in the Kakarot ecosystem.
Incorporating DeCC enables features such as private voting for DAOs, encrypted storage for various applications, secure random number generation for games, confidential data linked to NFTs, sealed-bid auctions for NFTs and other assets, and encrypted order books for DeFi applications.
By integrating Secret’s Confidential Computing Layer with Kakarot, we’re paving the way for exciting new Web3 use-cases.
What is Kakarot?
Kakarot is a zkEVM built in Cairo, the provable language that powers Starknet and all the StarknetOS chains (also called CairoVM chains, or Starknet appchains). Kakarot is an Ethereum-compatible Layer 2, a so-called zkRollup. Beyond compatibility, Kakarot strives to push more innovations to the L2 space, and to add new features such as native account abstraction to the EVM. Kakarot’s driving ethos is to Prove, Scale and Innovate 🥕.
Kakarot is the only provable implementation of the EVM written in a Turing complete zero-knowledge Domain Specific Language (zkDSL): Cairo.
In this sense, Kakarot is closer to an EVM client than other zkEVMs. This makes its approach flexible. Lower-level approaches that rely on cryptographic primitives (e.g. circuits) are tailor-made for a specific EVM version. They are much harder to maintain and adapt. For instance, because Kakarot’s approach is adaptable & sustainable, it can support all Ethereum hardforks from day 1 and thus minimize EVM fragmentation.
What is Decentralized Confidential Computing (DeCC)?
DeCC (Decentralized Confidential Computing) is a category of technology enabling blockchain applications to store and compute encrypted data, without having to reveal that data to the entire world. This unlocks powerful new use-cases for Web3, as most blockchain applications today are functionally limited by their requirement of all data being publicly viewable. This is in stark contrast to traditional “Web2” development, where encrypted databases and end-to-end encrypted data transfers are utilized in nearly every application.
DeCC encompasses various encryption technologies and solutions aimed at improved data protection, secure and confidential calculations, and verifiable computing. Key technologies include Trusted Execution Environments (TEE), Zero-Knowledge Proofs (ZKP), Multi-Party Computation (MPC), and Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE).
In Secret Network’s case, confidential computing is achieved through Trusted Execution Environments, or TEEs. A TEE is a secure area of a computer processor that enables encrypted data to be computed without being revealed to the public, or even to the operator of the TEE. Secret’s Confidential Computing Layer essentially enables other blockchains to communicate with Secret’s TEEs, by way of cross-chain message passing between smart contracts.
Start Utilizing Confidential Computing on Kakarot
Start building on Kakarot by checking out their developer documentation.
Next, check out Secret Network’s Confidential Computing Layer landing page to get an overview of how it works, and example use-cases for inspiration. From there you’ll find multiple links to our documentation, including the EVM developer toolkit. This page includes tutorials for applications you can build, and information on connecting your Kakarot application to Secret.
To get development help from the Kakarot community, check out their Discord, and to get help from the Secret Network community, join our Discord or Telegram. You can also get in touch with the Secret Network developer relations team.
Secret’s Partnership with Kakarot
We’re excited to embark on this journey with Kakarot, and intend to provide dedicated support to their growing ecosystem. In addition to today’s announcement, we’re also discussing future collaborations such as joint hackathon bounties, developer workshops, and in-person and virtual events. We hope to see many successful projects built as a result of this partnership.
This is one more step on Secret’s path to bringing decentralized confidential computing (DeCC) to all of Web3.
Join in on the discussion on the Secret Network community channels:
