Cosmos 2021: A Review of the Rapid Development of the Cross-Chain Ecosystem

The year 2021 was a fruitful year for the Cosmos ecosystem. During this year, we witnessed the achievement of many important milestones, from the official release of IBC to the continuous growth of the network. Let's take a look back at the achievements of this year.

IBC is online, completing all content of the Cosmos white paper

At the beginning of 2021, the Cosmos community dedicated itself to promoting the release of the IBC( cross-chain communication protocol). In February, Cosmos launched the largest software upgrade in history, StarGate. This is the result of the joint efforts of multiple distributed organizations within the Cosmos ecosystem. StarGate implemented a series of critical upgrades and performance improvements to the Cosmos SDK, laying the foundation for the release of IBC in April.

The launch of IBC has completely changed the situation where blockchains could not interoperate. It allows blockchain networks to avoid congestion and bloat caused by excessive decentralized applications competing for a single base layer throughput. The release of IBC marks the realization of all the contents of the initial Cosmos white paper, making the vision set out in 2016 a reality.

On April 2, the first IBC cross-chain transaction was completed between IRISnet and Cosmos Hub. Since then, over 5.8 million IBC transfers have been completed, and 25 chains have enabled the IBC functionality. As one of the largest blockchains, Terra also enabled IBC in October, bringing more possibilities to the Cosmos cross-chain ecosystem.

Cross-chain Bridge Between Cosmos and Ethereum

As the Ethereum mainnet becomes increasingly congested, the demand for cross-chain solutions has become more urgent. In 2021, interoperability became one of the focal points in the blockchain industry, and we witnessed the launch of the first cross-chain bridge from Cosmos to Ethereum.

Sifchain has become one of the most popular cross-chain networks in Cosmos and integrated the Peggy( Cosmos and Ethereum bridging) project in early 2021. Compared to other Ethereum-based projects, Peggy enables users to perform cross-chain transactions between Cosmos and Ethereum more conveniently and at a lower cost.

Sommelier Network has also launched its own "Gravity Bridge" between Cosmos and Ethereum - a bi-directional Ethereum bridge managed by a global network of validators. The Sommelier Gravity bridge includes smart contracts that control the bridge, a Cosmos module for synchronizing validators and batch processing cross-chain transactions, and a relayer responsible for handling all batch cross-chain transactions.

In December, the Althea team launched the Gravity Bridge Chain with an independent decentralized validator set, aimed at increasing adoption through strategic incentives. The Gravity Bridge was initially planned to launch on the Cosmos Hub but was later changed to an independent chain deployment to accelerate iteration speed, allowing all Cosmos chains to access a trustless bridge between Cosmos and Ethereum.

In addition, the TIBC simplified cross-chain communication protocol, independently designed and developed by the IRISnet core development team, officially launched on November 15. This protocol is a subset of the IBC protocol, optimizing the cross-chain connection process and expanding functionality to enable seamless and trustless transfer of complex digital assets between heterogeneous blockchains.

Cosmos Global Events

Another highlight of 2021 was that after a long period of remote work, we were finally able to gather offline and communicate face-to-face with members of the Cosmos community. The "Cosmoverse Conference" held in Lisbon from November 5 to 6 brought together the most interesting projects and figures in the Cosmos ecosystem, offering participants two days of inspiring content and dialogue.

From November 11 to December 10, we held the largest hackathon in the history of Cosmos - HackAtom VI. This was a month-long online event with offline warm-up activities and a formal opening ceremony held in Berlin and Lisbon. HackAtom VI was sponsored by multiple projects in the Cosmos ecosystem, attracting over 1,900 participants and receiving more than 100 impressive works.

cross-chain sustainable development mission

In 2021, global awareness of the climate crisis reached new heights. In the face of increasing natural disasters, depleting global resources, and rising temperatures, we must take swift action to reduce carbon emissions. The mission of Cosmos is to become the world's leading blockchain ecosystem in the sustainable and renewable digital finance sector.

This year, the Cosmos cross-chain foundation ( ICF ) signed a memorandum of cooperation with "ixo - the Global Impact Network" to jointly implement a multi-year R&D, promotion, and strategic cooperation plan with multiple partners. We believe that through collaboration, we can become an important force in promoting inclusive finance, sustainable development, and protecting the Earth.

Cosmos Signal

In 2021, we launched Cosmos Signal—a quarterly keynote that reveals the latest developments in the Cosmos ecosystem. Cosmos Signal aims to provide stunning visuals and includes a wealth of exclusive news and updates to highlight the strength and innovation of the Cosmos network. Its initial release attracted nearly 500,000 views, achieving great success.

Summary

For Cosmos, 2021 was undoubtedly an exciting year! From further enhancing blockchain interoperability to hosting various events, developing cross-chain bridges and NFTs, we have consistently maintained innovation. As the new year begins, we look forward to the continued thriving of the Cosmos ecosystem, bringing more breakthrough advancements to the blockchain world.