Disclaimer: I hold small bags of Cosmos ATOM and Sentinel DVPN. I hope I did each chain some justice with this post and tried to source and edit all the information I could into a readable format from the official websites of each chain to give a fair voice to each in the ecosystem. Each chain has their official website listed as a source.
With the release of IBC (Inter-Blockchain Communication protocol) and the upcoming native "Gravity" DeX coming soon to a specific Cosmos Hub near you, I wanted to highlight what it means to be in the Cosmos Network ecosystem and how it is very much like a nation-state economy where each piece of the puzzle produces a product to export its value to other chains. As a whole, it benefits the Cosmos Ecosystem to have brilliant and innovative products to offer to other “nation states”, so I want to cover the “exports” and “imports” that will be possible with the DeX, on the figurative dock to Cosmos Hubs' port city.
Here is a list of pieces of information covering all the block chains that I could find information on that are intending or confirmed to connect to the Cosmos Hub via IBC in the coming year. The purpose of this is to have an easy access point to understanding each chains' real world utility all in one place, it is simply an overview, please do your own research.
Cosmos - $ATOM – cosmos.network
Cosmos is an ever-expanding ecosystem of interconnected apps and services, built for a decentralized future. “The Internet of Blockchains.”
Serving as the economic center of Cosmos, the Cosmos Hub is the first-of-its-kind blockchain built using the Cosmos SDK and powered by Tendermint BFT Consensus that provides vital services to the interchain. Cosmos apps and services connect using IBC, the Inter-Blockchain Communication protocol. This innovation enables you to freely exchange assets and data across sovereign, decentralized blockchains and changes the way we all see blockchain.
The Cosmos Hub will function as a marketplace, or a “port-city” set to operate a next-gen decentralized exchange in the next month, swapping digital assets from across the Interchain, with very low fees and instant transaction confirmation. With Shared Security in the very near future, ATOM will soon be securing many chains, in exchange for additional staking rewards. With the core mission of the Hub being to connect chains together and by establishing IBC connections with compatible chains and operating decentralized bridges with chains like Ethereum and Bitcoin, it will become the port-city it was envisioned to be.
The following have already connected to the Cosmos Hub:
IRISNet - $IRIS - https://www.irisnet.org/
IRISNet is building a technology foundation which facilitates construction of distributed business applications with plans to integrate services as a public chain service portal, providing a new low-threshold and accessible development environment for technology developers in the ecosystem.
IRISnet is an Interchain Service Hub for NextGen Distributed Applications that is approved by China! Developed by Bianjie AI and Tendermint Inc. the IRIS Hub is the second Cosmos Hub to support IBC enabling cross-chain interoperability within the Cosmos ecosystem. IRIS Hub is the first regional hub connected to the Cosmos main Hub which means all zones connected to the IRIS Hub will be able to interact with any other hub or zone in the Cosmos ecosystem. All part of the vision of an internet of blockchains. Bianjie contributes to the Cosmos ecosystem through both technical development and community building, even running a validator for the Cosmos Hub.
IRISnet will provide a variety of DeFi applications and with Irita they are also offering a permissioned enterprise version of the IRISnet Hub. IRISnet was designed to support more than token transfers, also allowing for transfer and exchange of data and computing resources. The interoperability of IRISnet combined with the developer options available make IRIS Hub ideal for use cases such as private healthcare data exchange, supply chain solutions and enterprise finance. IRIS is the staking, governance and gas token for IRIS Hub similar to ATOM for the Cosmos Hub in that regard. IRIS staking allows for delegators to participate in governance by voting on proposals or creating proposals for the network to vote on. IRIS is also the base token used for Coinswap, the Iris Hub on-chain exchange.
The following have announced they will be connecting to the Hub soon:
Akash - $AKT - https://akash.network/
Akash, “The Unstoppable Cloud.” The world's first decentralized open source cloud for DeFi.
Censorship-resistant, permission-less, and self-sovereign, Akash DeCloud is a faster, more efficient, and lower cost cloud built for DeFi, decentralized projects, and high growth companies, providing unprecedented scale, flexibility, and price performance. Up to 10x lower in cost, a serverless computing platform that is compatible with all cloud providers and all applications that run on the cloud.
For the first time developers can break free from the censorship limits of centralized cloud providers, and deploy faster, more efficiently, and at lower cost. Developers will be able to launch applications such as DeFi apps, blogs, games, data visualizations, block explorers, blockchain nodes, and other blockchain network components on a decentralized cloud. Akash has announced integrations and partnerships with Tendermint, Cosmos, Cosmos’s Interchain Foundation, Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC), Solana, Kava, and Chainlink.
Regen Network – $REGEN - https://www.regen.network/ - (Launching April 15)
Regen Network incentivizes regenerative land use practices, restores ecosystems and helps to reverse climate change.
The Regen Network is building an open community that holds resources and tools such as high-quality data about ecological subjects. Regen Registry allows land stewards to sell their ecosystem services directly to buyers around the world.
Regen Ledger is a public, proof of stake (PoS) blockchain developed with the Cosmos Software Development Kit (SDK) built for verification of claims, agreements & data related to ecological state. Regen Ledger enables multiple registries to communicate and transact with each other producing a public ecological accounting system.
Regen's first steps have been collaboration with farmers worldwide. The application that Regen is developing enables farmers and funders to create agreements about farming practices and ecological change. Through this offering, the Regen Network is trying to create a standard and, for farmers, profitable ways to make changes to the way they use the landscape.
The Regen Network and its team of scientists allow anyone in the world to access open, scientifically valid information about the state of the planet. There’s no longer the need to rely heavily on local authorities. With this transparent information, the network aims to activate the chain of significant environmental change. A third application focuses on the community. The Regen Network is building an open community that holds resources and tools such as high-quality data about ecological subjects.
Starname - $IOV - https://www.starname.me/
Starname is sort of a decentralized version of PayPal or Venmo, without the hassle of dealing with banking details or a KYC process and Starname Manager is noncustodial.
Starname (IOV) is a decentralized username service that is innovating the internet of payments. Starname allows users to create a username, or \*starname, that can be used to replace cryptocurrency addresses to receive payments, with Starname Manager being blockchain agnostic it means you can send/receive more than just IOV to your Starname address. Starname removes the middle-man when making payments across the internet allowing for a true p2p online payment platform.
IOV is the staking, gas and governance token for the Starname network; it is also used to pay the fees when creating a Starname, renewing or transferring them. As each individual Starname is an NFT they will be tradable as NFTs across the Cosmos ecosystem. Starname fees vary based on basic and premium names(basic\*iov or \*premium format) and character length, minimum 4 which is the most expensive.
The Starname vision is to make sending crypto as easy as sending an email, which is why they have created a platform allowing for a single username to group multiple cryptocurrency addresses. With G-Drive Starname will be one of the first blockchains to allow access to their services using Google Authentication providing a seamless user experience. Starname is still a very new network in its infancy. They are aiming for more integrations and targeting the NFT space for content creators to have an easier way to receive payments for their work and even have developments.
Althea - $ALTG - https://althea.net/
Althea is a essentially an ISP (internet service provider) in a box: fast, affordable, locally run internet running on block chain technology, anywhere.
Althea is a set of internet protocols with payment built in, creating incentives for rapid expansion and investment in the network. Althea provides a way for people maintaining internet infrastructure to be funded and compensated autonomously, without the need for governments or businesses. Althea's unique cooperative vision for the internet empowers communities to build multi-stakeholder networks faster and more affordably than legacy telecom models. Althea is faster, because their unique billing system ensures that incentives are aligned with stakeholders that can earn more money by providing faster service.
With a price-aware routing protocol that makes sure that traffic takes the cheapest path, an Althea router gets the best prices, second by second. The networks are made up of nodes owned by the people who use them and are locally managed and governed. Althea is a full service solution that enables anyone to easily build and manage a network that tracks revenue, payments, and system maintenance in easy to understand graphs and charts.
Sentinel - $DVPN - https://sentinel.co/
The Sentinel Network hosts open-source distributed and decentralized applications that provide users with assurance that their session information is not being logged, their communication is not being stored, and that not even the creator of the application can view any of their data.
Sentinel dVPN is already the most widely adopted decentralized VPN solution in blockchain. It created a product framework that existing centralized VPN companies can use to translate their system and continue branding. The framework has a reduced cost and time in the process of dVPN Application Development. It lowers the potential security threads and risks associated with hackers and manages nodes and handle of DMCA requests.
Sentinel has developed ‘Proof of Bandwith’ a new — first-of-its-kind — mechanism capable of verifying the amount of bandwidth consumed in the network in a truly decentralized manner. Verifying bandwidth consumption in a peer-to-peer crypto-network has been a fundamental problem, resulting in most dVPN networks relying on the work of trusted intermediaries or ‘permissioned nodes’.
Sentinel is totally transparent, the code behind the Sentinel dVPN is fully revealed to the public on Sentinel’s GitHub profile along with the application MD5 Checksums for absolute provability. Servers are hosted all over the world by the community, for the community. Users can choose the optimal server for the fastest browsing and download speeds. Anyone can host a exit or relay node on Sentinel. Sentinel will always have a free tier of nodes for people to try the product out. These nodes will be newer nodes that are building up trust and reputation on the network.
Sentinel’s ethos is to provide the privacy-preserving networking backbone for the internet, allowing entrepreneurs and existing organizations to establish their own white-labelled VPN at minimal cost or difficulty. Military Grade Encryption: users can choose from SOCKS5 or OpenVPN servers which enforce quantum level encryption standards such as AES 256 or Poly1305.
Band - $BAND - https://bandprotocol.com/
Band Protocol is a cross-chain data oracle platform that aggregates and connect real-world data and APIs to smart contracts.
Blockchains are great at immutable storage and deterministic, verifiable computations. However, they cannot access trusted real-world information available outside their networks. Band Protocol enhances smart contract functionalities by granting them access to reliable data without any central points of failure.
Decentralized Finance applications need price feeds on token swap and loan collateralization process. With Band Protocol’s built-in price oracle, developers can build DeFi with an absolute peace of mind that the price feeds they’re using are robust and tamper-proof.Band Protocol's flexible oracle design allows developers to use any data including real-world events, sports, weather, random numbers and more. Developers can create custom-made oracles using WebAssembly to connect smart contracts with traditional web APIs within minutes.
Kava - $KAVA , $USDX , $HARD - https://www.kava.io/
The Kava platform is being called “DeFi for Crypto” as it is designed to offer using collateralized loans based on a variety of different cryptocurrencies.
It’s a cross-chain platform that offers a service similar to that of Maker DAO, but where Maker supports ETH and eventually ERC-20, Kava is capable of providing collateralized debt positions on any cryptocurrency theoretically. Kava’s multi-chain DeFi lending platform offers USDX stablecoin loans and Chainlink oracle data to major blockchains and end-user applications as well as a lending and borrowing platform similar to AAVE, Compound via HARD protocol.
Kava.io is the first cross-chain DeFi hub providing applications and services to the world's largest cryptocurrencies. Kava’s platform operates as a decentralized bank for digital assets connecting users with products like stablecoins, loans, and interest-bearing accounts so that they can do more and earn more with their digital assets.
Commercio - $COM - https://commercio.network/project/
Commercio is “The Documents Blockchain” that allows companies to create identities, sign and exchange business documents among its participants.
Commercio is a sovereign network that has its own native Utility Token called Commercio Token which will incentivize members to manage the network and incentivize members to grow the network by bringing in other members. “The Documents Blockchain” refers to the main purpose of Commercio.network which is to act as a network to facilitate the exchange of business documents between companies using the blockchain technology which is decentralized, immutable and distributed. The protocol is organized on an open-source software project entirely based on Blockchain technology and focused on the needs of companies.
Commercio ensures that the paternity of a document was created by a declared sender, that the validity of the sender can not deny having electronically signed the document, and that the integrity of the document has not been altered during transport. Every company can exchange its documents securely provided that it is invited into the network by another company that is already an active member and adopts the protocol.
Commercio.network significantly reduce the amount of companies’ current investments in IT infrastructure and security for eID, eSignature, and eDelivery. Commercio.network with its own Sovereign network is something halfway between the Public Blockchain and the permissioned Blockchain, an hybrid solution that encompasses the best of both worlds.
LikeCoin - $LIKE - https://like.co/
LikeCoin is a Decentralized Publishing Infrastructure for Decentralized Archive, Decentralized Rewards, Decentralized Curation and Decentralized Governance.
Likecoin is a newly formed cyptocurrency that is trying to solve a problem on the online reward system for creative content. Instead of the usual proof of work (POW) or proof of stake (POS), LikeCoin has a very special feature which is called the proof of creativity (POC). Borrowed from the concept of ISBN for books, ISCN is a unique identifier assigned to content such as articles and images, and comes with metadata such as author, publisher, content address, license terms and creation footprint.
Stored on LikeCoin chain, ISCN is immutable and censorship resilient. The content, on the other hand, is stored on IPFS for tamper resistance and peer-to-peer distribution. By simply attaching a LikeCoin button beneath your content and without setting up a paywall, every Like by readers is turned into measurable rewards in LikeCoin tokens. The core component of LikeCoin is LikeCoin chain, a public blockchain tailor-made for content publishing, supporting the “Republic of Liker Land”.
LikeCoin has its own App, and can also be utilized on WordPress, Medium, Vocus, Blogspot Blogger.com, Pixnet and other content platforms.
Terra - $LUNA , $UST - https://terra.money/
Terra created its own (non-collateralized, algorithmic) stablecoin called Terra USD (UST) and it stabilizes price through an algorithm without collateral.
The target price of UST is maintained by adjusting the supply. When there is a high demand for Terra USD, UST will be trading at above a dollar. Terra will increase new supply of UST to bring down the price back to a dollar. Vice versa, if demand for Terra USD falls, the protocol buys back Terra to reduce supply and bring prices back up. The elastic supply model expands and contracts based on demand and arbitrage opportunities will incentivize the price to be at US$1.
To mint a new supply of UST, you have to burn LUNA and swap them to UST. Likewise, if you want to mint LUNA, UST is bought back and burned. Every time a transaction is made, fees are paid to LUNA holders. LUNA accrued value is then used to collateralize Terra value in the ecosystem.
Anchor protocol is a saving protocol that pays 20% interest over deposited UST with little to no risk. Mirror protocol which tracks the value of synthetic assets like stocks, bonds and other crypto's called mAssets. This way with Terra you can have exposure to a stock you can't buy. CHAI is the payments app which is available only and quite popular in Korea.
Secret Network - $SCRT - https://scrt.network/
Secret Network is the only decentralized blockchain that provides provable and programmable privacy, allowing applications to use encrypted data instead of exposing it on-chain. And that means you can build incredible things with Secret that you can’t build anywhere else in the blockchain space.
Secret Network is a first-of-its-kind, open-source blockchain that provides data privacy by default. While blockchains have the promise to create a more open and sustainable Internet, they've been held back by one major flaw: they expose all your data to everyone. A better Internet must protect data privacy and give users and organizations control over how their data is used and shared. Secret is a decentralized network that finally solves this problem of privacy, helping to secure and scale the decentralized web.
As the first blockchain to support encrypted inputs, encrypted outputs, and encrypted state for smart contracts, Secret Network allows for new kinds of powerful decentralized applications to be built.
Certik - $CTK - https://www.certik.org/
CertiK Foundation is a non-profit research group aiming to improve trust in blockchain by improving security.
The CertiK Foundation hopes to raise the standards of security in the blockchain space by offering security audits, penetration testing and custom formal verifiaction. The CertiK Foundation created CertiK Chain; which is a proof of stake blockchain built with the Cosmos SDK and Tendermint and utilizing CTK as the gas, staking a governance token, with a security first approach. Why CertiK Chain?CertiK Chain was built with security in mind. Certik enhances security of smart contracts thanks to the Certik Foundtion's Formal Verification platform and the CertiK Virtual Machine(CVM).
The CertiK Foundation have built an enitre ecosystem of applications for CertiK Chain including:
CertiKShield- a decentralized reimbursement system for digital assets
Security Oracle- providing real-time on-chain security insights for smart contracts
Skynet- a multi-dimensional tech suite for monitoring and analysing security
DeepSEA A programming language to write verifiable and secure smart contracts
CertiKOS the world's first fully certified hacker-resistant multi-core OS kernel
CertiK aims to create a safer and more secure blockchain ecosystem. By building with security in mind from the ground up developers have the tools needed to mitigate security risks that have plagued the blockchain space. With CertiK Chain developers and enterprises will be able to trust the network for security.
Ki Foundation - $XKI - https://foundation.ki/
Ki foundation is a Neobank bridging traditional wealth and Decentralized Finance.
It allows you to invest in the stock market and high yield real estate through the Klub app, provides a platform to ease Fiat on-ramp, convert FIAT to XKI and back, and allow payments through a Visa debit card, so you could send XKI to you wallet, swap it to EUR and use the Klub card to pay in the supermarket, hotel or book a flight with it. There are multiple levels of premium cards, unlocking more features and bonuses for Klub members. It integrates in our new generation’s consumption habits, driving loyalty of usage through entertainment, lifestyle and wealth generation.
To get access to the Klub cards you lock up XKI to the KLUB validator, every Klub rank has a minimum lock up amount. Once you pay with the Klub card you’ll be getting returns on all your orders (0.1%-0.2%) and up to 20% on Klub partners transactions. Ki foundation buys back XKI from mayor exchanges and uses it for transactions. The Klub app also advises you on stocks and cryptocurrencies. At this moment Ki Foundation has around 50 partners including Netflix, Spotify, Marriott, Deliveroo, Accor and booking.com. XKI is said to get listed on a major exchange Q2 of 2021.
Cyber – $EUL → $CYB - https://cyber.page/
Cyber is sort of a decentralized version of Google managed by its users, with the ambition and vision of being a self-sustained, decentralized super computer providing answers to questions.
There are two open-source applications built on Cyber, a decentralized Google alternative and also a decentralized Twitter alternative. Cyber is trying to solve the problem of data centralization, centralization of knowledge and censorship of information. Cyber is a decentralized protocol for searching and adding information to a knowledge graph, it ranks information according to relevance rather than a centralized algorithm.
Cyber only searches for content links, which eliminates censorship of the platform created by algorithms. Information, content and keywords are added by users and search results are found based on that data. Users can add content to Cyber by creating Cyber links which can be text, IPFS hash, URL, file, photo, video, audio, contact, location, video or voice. Governance is decentralized and controlled by the network. Cyber as $EUL is in testnet and will become $CYB at mainnet.
Persistence One – $XPRT - https://persistence.one/
Persistence is building an ecosystem of financial products, focusing on both institutional and crypto-native use cases.
Persistence facilitates the borrowing of crypto assets using real world assets as collateral. Bringing DeFi tools to institutional investors and institutional finance tools to crypto investors. The Persistence tech stack provides the infrastructure to effectively bridge the decentralized and traditional financial realms in a variety of areas:
Pstake is a liquid staking application to unlock liquidity for assets staked on PoS chains, allowing stakers to boost yields from their staked assets.
AUDIT.one is a Staking-as-a-Service solution for proof-of-stake networks.
Comdex is an institutional-facing commodities trading and trade financing platform, is the flagship DApp in the Persistence ecosystem.
pLend is a stablecoin lending platform backed by real-world assets that will enable stablecoin holders to supply liquidity to pools to support operations on Comdex
Asset Mantle is a framework for NFT marketplaces providing all the elements required to create individual marketplaces, they are researching NFTs as real world assets such as a bill of lading.
Microtick - $TICK - https://microtick.com/
The Microtick project is a new mechanism for decentralized price discovery and trading.
The vision of Microtick is to create a trading system more suited for blockchain usage where blocks come at discrete, relatively infrequent and often unpredictable times; and then build upon that vision to create a new trading paradigm that not only works better on, but promotes decentralized trading over the legacy centralized paradigm. The Microtick project’s goal is to provide a globally agreed upon, real-time consensus price - without requiring direct financial coupling to any underlying asset. The project is built on decentralized blockchain technology and the game-theoretical foundation of Schelling points.
Microtick is a cosmos-based project that allows for price discovery of blockchain assets onchain instead of relying on an oracle to inject prices from the outside, it brings the benefits of a global, real-time reference price to decentralized, private trades on the underlying asset. its price discovery stems from a two-sided marketplace where traders can enter leveraged positions on a very short-term basis. Choose a trading timeframe that suits your needs: 5 minutes, 15 minutes, 1 hour, 4 hours, or 12 hours. Or, take the role of “Market Maker” and provide your own assertions about an asset’s price and volatility.
Because Microtick’s consensus price can be hedged in either direction, it has the ability to decouple price discovery from order book trade execution and bring the benefits of a global, real-time reference price to decentralized, private trades on the underlying asset - wherever in the world they may occur.
The following are still in development:
Juno – JUNO - https://junochain.com
Juno aims to provide a sandbox environment for the deployment of inter-operable smart contracts.
An interoperable smart contract hub which automatically executes, controls or documents a procedure of relevant events and actions according to the terms of such contract or agreement to be valid & usable across multiple sovereign networks.
Juno as a sovereign public blockchain in the Cosmos ecosystem serves as a decentralized, permission-less & censorship resistant avenue for developers to efficiently and securely launch application specific smart contracts using proven frameworks and compile them in various languages.
Agoric - (TBA) - https://agoric.com/
Agoric is a robust architecture for building secure smart contracts based in JavaScript for maximum reach.
Agoric empowers developers to execute transactions, establish new markets, and craft novel exchanges - all without centralized control. Agoric uses an object-capability (ocap) security architecture, in which access to a programming object itself is the authority to use the object. All kinds of digital assets can be easily created, but importantly, they can be transferred in exactly the same ways, with exactly the same security properties.
Building on 30 years of experience, Agoric is developing a secure distributed ocap platform for smart contracts and market-oriented programming. The platform supports the development of smart contracts and market institutions across many different scales, from large public blockchains to small two-party contracts.
Osmosis - $OSMO – Osmosis.Zone
Osmosis is a Next-Gen AMM sandbox with customizable curves, fees and other parameters.
Osmosis is a protocol that will allow developers to design, develop and deploy customized AMMs. Osmosis is designed to be an efficient solution that is experimental in nature and customizable to meet the demands of the users. Osmosis will have IBC built in from day 1 allowing for connections across the entire Cosmos ecosystem. Along with Cosmos assets Osmosis will support ETH/ERC20 through the Althea Gravity bridge and eventually BTC.
With customizable curves, fees and other parameters Osmosis sets itself apart from other simple AMMs. New curves and parameters can be created and these can be much more powerful than existing AMM options. Osmosis parameter options and dynamic market fees mean Osmosis will be able to adapt to changing conditions and market needs. Beyond the technical features Osmosis has specialized governance and incentive alignments. Osmosis will require regular participation from engaged and highly active OSMO holders, this will include things like determining the distribution of liquidity mining incentives weekly, changing AMM parameters and spending of the community pool to improve or grow the project.
OSMO is a governance token and staking token but Osmosis intends to transition into a Cosmos Hub shared security zone when the feature is available. The OSMO token will be fairly launched and distributed to network participants, there will be no pre-sale. Keeping with the experimentation OSMO is using a quadratic "fair drop" which is intended to decrease the chances of governance inequality. Osmosis is still under development targeting a summer launch.
Sommelier Finance - $SOMM - https://sommelier.finance/
Automated Yield Aggregator that has impermanent loss protection, portfolio re-balancing and low fees.
Sommelier consists of the Cosmos Stargate SDK, its Tendermint-based consensus layer and a decentralized, bi-directional Ethereum bridge, managed by a global network of validators. Liquidity Providers (LPs) will be able to use the Sommelier to author and execute complex, and automated financial transactions, such as portfolio rebalancing, limit orders, batched orders, as well as a host of other features that traders have come to expect from CeFi, but that are not currently available in DeFi.
Sommelier has Impermanent Loss Protection by automatically rebalancing your portfolio when pool performance changes in a way that impermanent and unrealized losses require a change in strategy The balancing feature focuses on high yield LP opportunities and exits lower yielding opportunities. Aggregating and batching transactions with Sommelier will yield lower gas prices for LP growing demand to manage pool position and performance. Native transaction batching and roll-ups deliver greater liquidity momentum to capture on chain yield on the Ethereum blockchain.
Credit to /u/masslr for Ki Foundation Coverage
& /u/EthereumFlow for Coverage on Osmo, Iris, Starname, Cyber and Persistence
