Sandra Leow Gives a brief Overview of the Cosmos Ecosystem (ATOM)

Sandra Leow:  A Brief Dive into the Cosmos Ecosystem — “The Internet of Blockchains”

Overview of notable terms: -Tendermint BFT Consensus – Building a blockchain from scratch requires 3 layers: Networking, Consensus, and Application Layer.  Tendermint BFT packages the networking and consensus layers, reducing time taken to deploy sovereign blockchains.

-Cosmos SDK- Cosmos SDK focuses on simplifying the process of building applications on top of it based on two principles: 1. Modularity 2. Capabilities-based security.

-Zones and Hubs- Cosmos itself is not a blockchain but rather a framework for building out independent and sovereign blockchains.  Once a zone gains popularity through establishing many channels with other Zones via IBC, it is known as a Hub. Note: Cosmos Hub.

– IBC – IBC protocol leverages the instant finality property of Tendermint consensus to enable blockchains to communicate with one another.  IBC works through these steps:  1. Bonding 2. Proof relay 3. Validation.

So, what is Cosmos Network? Imagine a multi-chain world where sovereign blockchains communicate data and tokens seamlessly together. This is what Cosmos envisions to be.

Cosmos believes that sovereignty and interoperability are the two key ingredients for building an open ecosystem of blockchains that can scale for mass adoption.

Currently, each Zone is responsible for its own level of security.  With the launch of interchain security via Cosmos Hub (Q1, 2022) and shared security & consensus via Celestia DA, this can allow smaller blockchains to “rent” security from more established networks.

Arguably, with shared staking/ interchain security, this can increase the amount of transaction fees and chain inflation rewarded to ATOM stakes, as validators can choose to secure separate “child” chains.

Users can also opt for validation services of Cosmos Hub to secure their chains and push out their projects via. Starport.

By default, each zone is its own blockchain so it is not interoperable with other blockchains by default. However, the Interchain Accounts Module launching on IBC allows for Ethereum composability across Cosmos Zones.

Interchain accounts help solve this issue by allowing one blockchain to access the application-features of another blockchain (such as stake, vote, swap tokens, etc) through what an ‘account’ can do.

So why would an application deploy as an app-specific chain > smart contract on another L1? -MEV Resistance- The Osmosis DEX is working on a way to prevent front running and extraction of MEV. Osmosis’s idea is to encrypt all transactions until they are finalized.

-Scalability- To recap, Cosmos is a horizontal scaling framework for blockchains. It is arguable that a network of app-specific chains is more scalable than chains where validators secure everything.

Upcoming catalysts for Cosmos eco: Interchain accounts – IBC; Liquid staking; CosmWasm on Hub; Gravity Bridge Upgrades etc.

There are several other resources, which new investors can use to get to know more about the ecosystem.