The Cosmos Network: A Comprehensive Guide

Overview

The Cosmos network aims to build an internet of blockchain to enable blockchain networks to communicate with each other. Currently, blockchain systems operate in the form of an “island.” Blockchain networks operate in their world without any form of interoperability amongst themselves. There has been a lot of b bickering and maximalism among supporters of the different blockchain networks. 

Many have asked, can there ever be one blockchain network to unite all other blockchains? This brings us to the Cosmos blockchain network, also called the internet of blockchains. 

What is Cosmos Network?

The Cosmos network is an independent and decentralized network of blockchain systems. Each of these systems is powered by the Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) consensus algorithm. It serves as an ecosystem of blockchains with the ability to scale and interoperate with each other. Before the advent of Cosmos, blockchain networks cannot communicate with each other. They are not easy to build and can only handle quite a small amount of transactions. 

The Cosmos network aims to create a system where a blockchain system can share data, communicate and transact with another blockchain. Cosmos’ inter-blockchain protocol was launched in February 2021. By allowing blockchain interoperability, Cosmos eliminates the need for different blockchain networks to compete ruthlessly to become the best. With Cosmos, many blockchain networks can coexist with one another, while leveraging their individual advantages. And use cases. 

The Cosmos blockchain network goes beyond making it possible for different blockchains to interact and share data. It has also created a streamlined process that makes it possible for developers to create their own custom blockchain. The creation of a functional blockchain system takes years but it can be achieved within months using Cosmos. To showcase the immense power of the Cosmos blockchain network, the team built a copy of Ethereum on Cosmos. The Ethereum copy is known as Ethermint and it works just like the parent Ethereum network. It is also very much compatible with already existing smart contract features and other Ethereum tools like MetaMask. 

The History of the Cosmos Network

In 2017, Interchain Foundation, a non-profit establishment that funds open-source blockchain projects contracted Tendermint Inc. to develop and launch the Cosmos software. The Tendermint platform was founded by Jae Kwon. He developed his own byzantine fault-tolerant (BFT) consensus mechanism. Kwon also contributed to the Cosmos whitepaper as a co-author. 

The Cosmos blockchain network comprises independent blockchains that use the byzantine fault-tolerant (BFT) consensus mechanism. Blockchain networks that do not utilize BFT algorithms connect to the Cosmos blockchain network using “adoptor” blockchains. The Cosmos network wasn’t designed for a particular use case; rather it can adapt to suit multiple use cases. 

Cosmos has two different types of blockchains; the Zones and Hubs. Zones are the regular blockchain while hubs connect zones with one another on the network. Cosmos Hub was the first to be launched in the Cosmos ecosystem. It is a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain system with ATOM as the native blockchain. 

The Inter-Bloklchain Communication (IBC) Protocol

Cosmos’ IBC protocol was designed to solve the lack of communication and data sharing between different blockchain networks. For blockchain to enjoy widespread real application, its ability to interoperate and communicate with both external and internal blockchain protocols is very essential. You can imagine a telephone network with the capacity to only communicate with those in its immediate geographical location. It will certainly not last. 

The Cosmos IBC enables makes it possible for several blockchains to communicate seamlessly with one another.

A Deep Dive into the Ontology Network.

The Cosmos SDK

It is an open-source and scalable infrastructure designed in such a way that it builds multi-asset public PoS blockchains. The Cosmos SDK can also be deployed to build permissioned proof-of-authority (PoA) blockchain systems. It also serves as a modular framework that can be used to construct application-based blockchain networks and not virtual machine-based applications. Software engineers always seek simplicity and ease of use when trying to build interoperable and application-specific blockchains. 

Virtual machine-based blockchain networks like Ethereum were built to host application development on existing blockchain as smart contracts. There are certain specific use cases of smart contracts that are beneficial, like in the case of single-use applications. However, they fall short when it comes to the development of complex decentralized networks. Smart contract technology is limited in its versatility, technical performance, and sovereignty. 

With the Cosmos SDK, developers can choose between using pre-built modules and their own custom-built modules. Such a feature allows developers to test their minimum viable product before they launch their mainnet. Additionally, with the Cosmos SDK, users can connect their individual blockchain to the Cosmos network using IBC, increasing liquidity as well as user adoption. Also, the Cosmos SDK has been utilized in creating key blockchain and crypto projects like Binance, Kava, Terra, and IRISNet.

What are ATOMS And What Can You Do With Them?

ATOMs are the native token of the Cosmos Network. The first ATOM tokens were created when the Cosmos mainnet was launched. It was distributed to initial donors, token sale participants, the Cosmos Foundation, and the core developers of the network. Today, new ATOMs are routinely generated as rewards for the network validators. 

Holders of the ATOM token can stake and validate blocks, vote on the governance issues of the network. The holder can also pay for transaction fees on the Cosmos network using the ATOM tokens. You can decide to run your own validator node in order to earn rewards in ATOMs or you can delegate your ATOM coins to a validator. These validators lock their ATOMs as well as run specialized software that helps to maintain the Cosmos network. This is achieved by proposing new blocks and validating transactions. 

Some dApps Built On the Cosmos Network

The Cosmos blockchain network has become the popular go-to place for dApp developers who desire to build efficient cross-chain dApps. Some prominent decentralized applications (dAPPs) currently operating on Cosmos blockchain include:

Conclusion

The Cosmos network is still in its “infant” stage and hasn’t yet realized the vision in the project's whitepaper. However, the network is moving in the right direction and with time, it will certainly realize its full potential in the blockchain space.

Also read about NFTs in this article.

Public Blockchain Platforms You Should Know About

Blockchain gained massive popularity after the invention of Bitcoin. Bitcoin is a public Blockchain network that enables you to transfer your digital money to any users on the Bitcoin network. But are there any other public Blockchain platforms that we should be aware of? This article will guide you through what Blockchain is and different public Blockchain platforms.

What is Blockchain?

A Blockchain is a form of a decentralized, incorruptible digital ledger, that can be programmed to timestamp any kind of valuable peer to peer transactions, without the involvement of a third party. In other words, Blockchain is a chain-of-blocks connected with cryptographic hashes, and a slight change in data in one block can generate entirely new hashes rendering the entire chain invalid. These hash functions are impossible to solve, making Blockchain super secure consequently.

To make it easier, you can also take Blockchain as a list of records of transactions made by people, to people. Above all, these transactions are transparent, reliable, and immutable. To get a broader view of Blockchain, read Understanding Blockchain Essentials.

Types of Blockchain:

Blockchain networks can be public or private, depending on the needs of your project. 

Public Blockchain:

Anyone can access a public Blockchain, meaning that anyone can read, write, and participate in the Blockchain network. But this does not mean the Public Blockchains aren't secure, neither does anyone governs a public Blockchain network.

In addition, public and Private Blockchains have various applications, check out Applications Of Blockchain Technology to get an overview of real-life use cases of Blockchain! 

Different Public Blockchain Platforms:

Public Blockchain Platforms Comparison

Bitcoin:

A person or a group of people, Satoshi Nakamoto announced the launch of Bitcoin, a peer-to-peer electronic cash system. To clarify, Satoshi wanted to give authority to the peers who want to exchange money, eliminate the intermediary, and bring transparency in transactions. Hence, they invented such a decentralized network that allowed the users to keep track of their cryptocurrency, without a middleman. Bitcoin runs on the PoW consensus algorithm and it records around 3-5 transactions in a second. People have developed hundreds of applications on Bitcoin, that allow the users to make secure transactions with other users through the Bitcoin network. Decentralized peer-to-peer online marketplaces, financial, and content sharing platforms, are some of the examples of DAPPS on the Blockchain network just to begin with. Arcade City is a decentralized application built on Bitcoin, that connects drivers and riders through Facebook, and riders can pay them directly with Bitcoins.

Ethereum:

Vitalik Buterin founded Ethereum, an open-source, Blockchain platform that provides a language, and tools for developers to build and deploy decentralized Blockchain applications and smart contracts. Solidity is a Turing complete language of the Ethereum platform that enables you to create smart contracts, with a lot fewer restrictions compared to Bitcoin, which comes with a more restricted scripting language. Moreover, Ethereum uses ‘Ethers’ as a cryptocurrency, to run different applications, monetize work and smart contracts. Ethereum is capable of making 15 transactions in a second.
Mist browser is used to plug into Ethereum, which enables you to store and trade Ethers. It is just like a usual internet browser; however, it lets you browse through different decentralized applications deployed on the Ethereum network only. An example of an application built on Ethereum is Ethereum Blockchain as a Service (EBaaS) on Microsoft Azure.

EOS:

Block.one developed EOS, a Blockchain platform built for the development of industrial-scale decentralized applications (DAPPS). It aims to be a free and open-source Blockchain platform, easy to use, and massively scalable. EOS can also be described as an operating system for DAPPS. It provides developers the basic tools and functionalities of an actual operating system, to help them develop industrial-scale DAPPS. EOS isn't completely a decentralized platform yet, but the EOS community is working hard to make it one. Its goal is to do millions of transactions in a second, all without any transaction fees. Currently, it can do 3,996 transactions in a second.

The EOS community innovated a new consensus algorithm, DPoS (Delegated Proof of Stake). DPoS is more efficient in comparison with the good old PoS/PoW, as it uses a realtime voting system to achieve consensus. EOS is way more scalable and secure than Ethereum, only because of the consensus algorithm it uses. The EOS community members give votes to super representatives and the representatives are rewarded by validating transactions. In DPoS, community members have more governance rights in the network.

TRON:

Tron was founded by a nonprofit organization, with the goal of eliminating intermediaries from entertainment platforms, so that people can share content, pay for it and enjoy. This is a public Blockchain platform, a free and digital content entertainment system that enables users to share content effectively. The TRON code-base was originally a copy of Ethereum. TRON uses a fork of Solidity, which makes Ethereum smart contracts compatible with the TRON ecosystem. TRON's goal was to overcome the scalability issues in Ethereum. TRON uses the Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) mechanism as its consensus algorithm, which marks the biggest difference in Ethereum and TRON. In DPoS, 27 Super Representatives are elected to produce blocks for the network, unlike PoW.  TRON has its own cryptocurrency Tronix (TRX), that can be used by the users to pay for the content they consume. It can only be exchanged with other cryptocurrencies, like BTC.

Stellar:

Mr. Gox and Joyce Kim founded Stellar, a Blockchain-based payment technology that aims to provide more attainable financial services to people around the world. In other words, the goal of Stellar is to bring about financial inclusion by, easy-to-use global payment systems in the unbanked developing countries. Stellar has a native cryptocurrency, named Lumens (XLM). It has its own consensus algorithm, named Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP) which allows faster transaction processing. Stellar provides you with developer tools to build applications like LOBSTER - 'Lumens to any email address', which allows you to send Lumens to any email addresses you want to. An email is sent to the recipient who doesn't have a Stellar account to notify him about his account and has Lumens for him to use anytime!

Ripple and Stellar are two very different platforms. While Ripple is for-profit, Stellar covers it's functioning costs by putting aside 5% of the total Lumens available, and they accept donations. Ripple is in connection with the bank industry, Stellar runs after financial inclusion in unbanked countries. Stellar also differs from Ripple in terms of money exchange.

Zilliqa:

Zilliqa is a scalable, secure Blockchain platform that is popular for its implementation of 'sharding'. Sharding is a scaling method that breaks transaction validating nodes in an ever-growing Blockchain network into shards. These 'shards' validate micro-blocks with other shards and these are combined to create a single block on the Blockchain. Zilliqa can process tens of thousands of transactions per second. Zilliqa uses PoW to verify miners to prevent Sybil attacks and pBFT for its consensus. pBFT is the feature of a decentralized network to hold consensus, even after some of the nodes in the network respond with wrong information. One of the advantages of the pBFT model is its capacity to finalize a transaction without the need for confirmations and energy as in PoW. Zilliqa comes with a number of developer tools, like Explorer, that helps you to explore Zilliqa Blockchain for transactions, tokens, and other statistics.

Blockstack:

Blockstack is a decentralized computing network or an app ecosystem that allows developers and users to connect safely. Stacks is the native cryptocurrency of Blockstack. Blockstack uses Blockchain technology to build developer tools that give access to users to an open internet that lets them own their data and digital identity. A developer can build a DAPP in just 60 minutes! Application Mining program on Blockstack network funds DAPP developers every month when they build apps the community wants, with the provided Blockstack developer tools, like Blockstack Auth. Many useful applications have been built without any capability of smart contracts, but Clarity; a Turing complete smart contract language, was introduced for Blockstack to enable smart contract functionality for Blockstack apps. For more information about Blockstack read Why Blockstack Is The Future Of Internet.

How to select a platform?

To sum up, here are some basis for selecting a Blockchain platform:
1) Scalability of the platform
2) Transaction fees on the platform
3) Type of consensus algorithm of the platform
4) Popularity on GitHub
5) Security of the network

Still unsure about which public blockchain platform to choose for your business needs? Talk to a Blockchain expert from Xord here and get FREE consultation.