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Architecture Overview

If you have ever stacked building blocks as a kid, you already understand how Specter is put together. The protocol is a layered stack where each layer does one thing well and hands off to the next. From the bottom up, it looks like this:

CometBFT consensus keeps everyone honest. Cosmos SDK manages the chain's core functions — accounts, tokens, staking. The EVM runs smart contracts in Solidity, exactly like Ethereum. Ghost Protocol adds the privacy layer on top. And applications — the things people actually use — sit at the very top.

Let's walk through it visually:

Why Layers Matter​

Each layer in the stack has a clear boundary and a clear job:

  • Consensus (CometBFT): The foundation. All validators agree on the order and validity of transactions. This is the bedrock that everything else trusts.
  • Cosmos SDK: The chain's operating system. It handles native tokens via x/bank, validator management via x/staking, and a custom x/ghostmint module that lets the EVM mint and burn native GHOST tokens — something no standard Ethereum chain can do.
  • EVM Execution: A full Ethereum Virtual Machine powered by go-ethereum. Any Solidity contract that works on Ethereum works here, unchanged. The ghostmint precompile is a special bridge that lets smart contracts reach down into the native token layer.
  • Ghost Protocol: The privacy contracts — CommitRevealVault for private token transfers, OpenGhostVault for private data storage, PersistentKeyVault for reusable credentials, and the policy system that lets developers attach rules to private data.
  • Applications: The products people actually interact with. Vanish and Summon for private token transfers. Revels for private data sharing. Stealth addresses, dead man's switches, cross-chain bridges — all built on top of Ghost Protocol without modifying a single line of infrastructure code.

The Key Insight​

Most privacy solutions are bolted onto existing blockchains as an afterthought. Specter is different. Privacy lives at the protocol level, baked into the architecture from the very first layer. Every layer above it inherits that privacy by default.

This means a developer building on Specter does not need to "add privacy" to their application. They simply build on Ghost Protocol, and privacy comes for free. The same way a web developer does not need to "add HTTPS" to every page — it is just how the internet works now.

Composability​

Because Ghost Protocol is a set of smart contracts on a standard EVM, every privacy primitive is composable. A Revel can reference a Vanish commitment. A Dead Man's Switch can be funded through the bridge. Stealth addresses can receive tokens from any application. Everything talks to everything else, and developers can combine these building blocks in ways we have not even imagined yet.