Hello Secret Community!
Today we are incredibly excited to announce a new strategic partnership with Axelar. This integration will allow Secret Network to connect to Axelar’s interoperability network, unlocking new ways Secret can communicate with other blockchains, even beyond IBC.
In this blog, we’ll outline more details about Axelar, the potential of this new partnership, and how you can get involved and learn more about next steps!
The Universal Overlay Network
Axelar delivers secure cross-chain communication for Web3. Its infrastructure enables dApp users to interact with any asset or application, on any chain, with one click. As an overlay network, Axelar delivers Turing-complete message passing via proof-of-stake and permissionless protocols. Developers use Axelar to go beyond bridges, creating dApps that securely integrate users, functions and assets across all of the decentralized web.
These components of Axelar allow developers to build on the best platform for their use case while accessing users, assets, and applications in every other ecosystem. Instead of one-to-one cross-chain bridges, they can rely on a network architecture that provides a uniform code base and governance structure. Axelar’s ultimate goal is to build the underlying infrastructure for onboarding the next billion people onto Web3.
Secret Joins The Party
With Axelar already connected to Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche, Moonbeam, Fantom, and a handful of IBC blockchains, this new integration with Secret will bring something new to the table for all – privacy.
Quoting Axelar co-founder Sergey Gorbunov:
“As the industry develops and scales, the shortcomings associated with the lack of privatization in blockchain need to be addressed. The expanding capabilities of Secret Network illustrate eye-opening potential use cases of this privatization. Private trading of NFTs and front-run-resistant DeFi are just two examples. Secret Network’s integration with Axelar opens up new possibilities for users of any asset or blockchain to take advantage of these innovations.”
Secret will allow Axelar-connected applications to send private messages between siloed blockchains. Potential cross-chain use cases include providing front-running resistant swaps, private NFT trading, and private voting for DAOs!
To understand the potential, let’s look under the hood at Secret Network:
A Secret Contract’s code is always deployed publicly on-chain, so users and developers know exactly what code will be executed on submitted data.
However, the data that is submitted is encrypted: it cannot be read by a developer, anyone observing the chain, or anyone running a node. If the behavior of the code is trusted (which is possible because it is recorded on chain), a user of Secret Contracts obtains strong privacy guarantees.
This encrypted data can only be accessed from within the “trusted execution environment,” or enclave, that the compute module requires each validator to run. The computation of the Secret Contract is then performed within this trusted enclave, where the data is decrypted. When the computation is completed, the output is encrypted and recorded on-chain – all without the raw data ever being exposed to anyone!
This also protects against front-running, as nodes cannot see the information being submitted to the network and insert their own transactions in front of them. The users are the winners – not the bots!
Let’s now imagine in a cross-chain world how a user could benefit from these privacy guarantees and front-running resistance for an action such as swapping ETH on Ethereum for WBTC. A cross-chain dApp will:
- Send ETH from Ethereum wallet through Axelar to Secret
- Use a Secret AMM to privately swap ETH for WBTC
- Send back WBTC to Ethereum wallet through Axelar
All this with one click and no front-running. Imagine all the strategies which could be done, like lending/borrowing cross-chain without revealing your liquidation levels – and more to be invented!
Access to New Tokens
Another exciting benefit of this integration is that Secret users will gain access to new tokens, including DOT, AVAX, and MATIC!
A cross-chain dApp already utilizing this functionality is Satellite. Developed by the Axelar team, this dApp enables users to easily transfer assets across chains through an intuitive web-based UI.
We expect to see Secret DeFi dApps use this functionality in the future!
More on the potential of interoperability from Guy Zyskind, founder of Secret Network and CEO of SCRT Labs:
“Axelar’s ability to enable any-to-any communication across blockchains means Secret Network’s users will be presented with increased opportunity to interact with more networks than ever before. By connecting blockchains previously separate from one another, developers are shown the most advantageous aspect of blockchain interoperability, something Axelar is at the forefront of.”
If you’re interested in learning more about this partnership from both teams, we have great news! We’ll also be hosting a special joint Twitter Space with Axelar on Thursday, July 14th, at 5:30PM UTC / 1:30PM EDT.
https://www.twitter.com/i/spaces/1OwxWzzQPWWJQ
What’s Next?
Excited yet? We are too! Whether you’re a developer or a user, if you’re looking forward to taking advantage of these new capabilities, the best thing to do right now is to join in on the discussion in our communities and learn more!
Secret: Discord | Telegram | Twitter | Website
Axelar: Discord | Telegram | Twitter | Website
We’ll be announcing more about our work with Axelar and other development updates soon, so stay tuned!
Onwards and upwards!
