A Layer-1 blockchain built with the Cosmos SDK and aimed at one job: security. Its Security Oracle gives smart contracts a continuous safety score, so people can check a project before trusting it with their money.

How is Shentu connected to CertiK?

CertiK is a Web3 security firm started in 2018 by two computer-science professors, Ronghui Gu and Zhong Shao. Shentu grew out of it. The chain first launched as CertiK Chain, then rebranded to Shentu Chain in late 2022 to run as its own public network, separate from the CertiK audit business.

What is CTK used for?

CTK is Shentu's native token. You use it to pay transaction fees, to stake and help secure the chain, to vote on governance, and to pay for the network's security services.

Does CTK have a supply limit?

No. CTK is uncapped, so new coins are minted as staking rewards, which makes it mildly inflationary. As of June 2026 both total and circulating supply sit around 160.2 million CTK (CoinGecko).

No.298

📒 Codex · Security-first L1

Shentu CTK

The Web3 Security Auditor

🎭 the inspector who reads every clause of a contract before anyone signs, then pins a score to the door

⚡ L1📜 Smart Contract🌱 PoS

ALTROOKIE CODEX

💬 “Before you hand your money to a smart contract, I read it line by line and look for traps. Then I stamp it with a score so you can decide with your eyes open. I would rather be the cautious one in the room.”

💬 TL;DR

What it is: a Layer-1 blockchain built on the Cosmos SDK, with security as its whole reason to exist.
Its trick: a Security Oracle that scores how safe a smart contract is, plus ShentuShield, an on-chain protection pool.
Where it came from: spun out of CertiK, a Web3 audit firm founded in 2018 by two professors.
CTK: pays fees, secures the chain through staking, and votes on governance. No supply cap.

📖 The Story

2018. Two computer-science professors, Ronghui Gu of Columbia and Zhong Shao of Yale, started a company called CertiK. Their day job was unglamorous but vital: read other people's smart contracts and find the bugs before attackers do. In a young industry where a single coding mistake can drain millions, that work was always in demand.

October 2020. The team decided the checking shouldn't stop at a one-time human audit. They launched their own blockchain, CertiK Chain, with a token sale that wrapped up that month. The idea was a chain that could watch contracts continuously, not just once on launch day.

Late 2022. The chain grew up and got its own name: Shentu Chain. The rebrand drew a clean line between the audit company (still its own business) and the public network, which now stands on its own. Same chain, new identity, its own path forward.

Shentu's whole character comes from that origin. It is not chasing the loudest hype. It sits at the door, magnifying glass in hand, and asks the boring but important question: is this contract actually safe?

📊 Stats

🛡️Security focus Its entire reason to exist

🔍Auditing Born from the CertiK firm

🧩Ecosystem Niche, security-specific

🔥Hype Quiet, not a meme play

💎Scarcity No cap (minted forever)

🧩 How it works

Shentu's heart is the Security Oracle. An oracle is a service that feeds outside facts onto a blockchain. Here, the outside fact is a safety verdict. Contracts of every kind feed into this one central service, and from it a single security score is published on-chain that any app, wallet, or person can read before trusting the contract. Alongside it runs ShentuShield, a community-funded protection pool. The chain itself is a Cosmos SDK staking network secured by delegated proof-of-stake, where holders back validators with their CTK.

📜 Contracts feed into the 🔍 Security Oracle hub, which publishes one on-chain score that ✅ dApps, 👛 wallets, and 🧑 you all read before trusting.

🌗 Light & Shadow

🌕 Light

A clear, useful niche. Security is one of crypto's biggest real problems, and Shentu was built only for it
Real pedigree. It grew out of CertiK, a security firm founded by two university professors with a track record of auditing
Practical tools, not just promises (the Security Oracle for live scoring, ShentuShield for on-chain protection)

🌑 Shadow

A score is a hint, not a guarantee. A contract can pass a check and still fail in ways nobody predicted, so this is no safety promise
No supply cap. CTK keeps minting as staking rewards, so the token is mildly inflationary over time (no fixed ceiling like Bitcoin's 21 million)
A narrow audience. Security infrastructure is less visible to everyday users than payments or DeFi, which keeps attention thin

🧬 Evolution lineage

Shentu is not a fork of Bitcoin or Ethereum. It is its own Cosmos SDK chain, so a sibling-by-toolkit to other Cosmos-built networks. Its real ancestor is itself: it began as CertiK Chain and rebranded into Shentu Chain.

🔧 CertiK Chain (2020–2022) 🛡️ Shentu Chain (2022)

Built with the same Cosmos SDK toolkit as Cosmos and other app-chains, not a code descendant of them.

🧭 Meet other friends

⚛️ Cosmos ✦ Celestia 🥷 Injective

See the whole codex →

❓ FAQ

What is Shentu?: A Layer-1 blockchain built with the Cosmos SDK and aimed at one job: security. Its Security Oracle gives smart contracts a continuous safety score, so people can check a project before trusting it with their money.
How is Shentu connected to CertiK?: CertiK is a Web3 security firm started in 2018 by two computer-science professors, Ronghui Gu and Zhong Shao. Shentu grew out of it. The chain first launched as CertiK Chain, then rebranded to Shentu Chain in late 2022 to run as its own public network, separate from the CertiK audit business.
What is CTK used for?: CTK is Shentu's native token. You use it to pay transaction fees, to stake and help secure the chain, to vote on governance, and to pay for the network's security services.
Does CTK have a supply limit?: No. CTK is uncapped, so new coins are minted as staking rewards, which makes it mildly inflationary. As of June 2026 both total and circulating supply sit around 160.2 million CTK (CoinGecko).

⚠️ Not investment advice. All figures are for information only.