Ecosystem Expansion
Bootstrapping growth in the Cosmos Ecosystem.
The Interchain Foundation (ICF) was founded in 2017 with the mission of promoting and advancing research and development in open and decentralized networks, with a particular focus on the Cosmos Network.
So far, the ICF has serviced much of this mission through All in Bits Inc, the US software development company that invented the Tendermint consensus protocol and developed the primary software implementation.
Under service agreements from the ICF, All in Bits led the development of infrastructure like Tendermint, the Cosmos-SDK, and LotionJS; applications like the Cosmos Hub and Ethermint; Voyager, a Cosmos Hub wallet, now known as Lunie; and IBC, the Interblockchain Communication protocol. It also led the marketing efforts of Tendermint and Cosmos products, ran hackathons and bug-bounties, nurtured the community, and helped dozens of other teams build on top of Tendermint and Cosmos. Indeed, we have seen tremendous expansion of open-source contributors and external developers to the Cosmos Project.
In addition to working with All in Bits, the ICF has engaged and funded numerous other research and development efforts: the Ledger Nano S application for Cosmos-SDK based blockchains; the Key Management Server (KMS) for Tendermint validators; the various security audits of Cosmos Hub related software; the Center for Blockchain Research at Stanford University; and much more!
We’ve also seen members of the All in Bits team spin out independent entities dedicated to supporting the Cosmos Network and its technologies: Proof-of-Stake validator companies like Cryptium Labs, Chorus One, and Iqlusion; alternative application frameworks like Nomic’s LotionJS and IOV’s Weave; and Cosmos Hub wallets like Lunie.
As the Cosmos community grows and the software matures, it’s important that activities in the ecosystem continue to diversify and decentralize. In a healthy and resilient ecosystem, we expect to see responsibilities distributed across many sustainable, independent, developer entities, with clear separation of concerns and clear modes of collaboration between them.
In light of this, the ICF will ramp up its funding of diverse research, product, engineering, community, and social good initiatives, both internally and externally, that advance the Cosmos Network ecosystem and values, and showcase its utility. We are especially interested in projects that expand the capabilities of the Cosmos ecosystem and its interaction with other networks, languages, and protocols. You can read more about the funding program here: https://interchain.io/funding
Please stay tuned for future posts about the projects we have funded to date and specific requests for proposals.
In addition to external funding, we are also growing our internal research and development teams. We operate remote first, but we’re building hubs in Toronto, Berlin, Lausanne, and Vienna. We’re especially interested in formal verification researchers and Rust engineers! Please see the open positions here: https://interchain.io/careers
The ICF believes that open-source, cryptographically secured, consensus-driven, economic networks hold the key to an anti-fragile global economic system and equal opportunity for all, and we are committed to nurturing and growing this future state. We’re very excited to be expanding our support for the ecosystem and look forward to the adventures to come To keep up with the latest news and information about the Interchain Foundation, please follow us on Twitter or Medium
