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- 💪 Cosmos comeback
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Welcome back to 0xResearch. Here's what we’ve got for you today:
Hey readers. It’s only Tuesday, but there’s no shortage of big news items today. Cosmos is attempting a comeback, Magic Eden is seemingly botching its airdrop, Fuel announces its token, and Ethereum KOLs are losing their shit over the departure of a researcher who’s been critical of the ecosystem in recent months.
The state of Cosmos:
Though bogged down by constant episodes of drama in recent years, the Cosmos network isn’t quite dead yet.
Today, there are still more than 115 mainnets interconnected by the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol. In the last 30 days, IBC facilitated $3.5+ billion in transaction volumes across its ecosystem.
About a third of this activity comes from its largest volume chain, Noble, an IBC-native stablecoin asset issuer with about $1.07 billion in volumes over the last month. Osmosis, the second largest IBC chain and leading DEX in the Cosmos network, facilitated $626 million in volumes over the same time period.
— Donovan Choy (X: @donovanchoy | Farcaster: @donovan)
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Interchain Foundation acquires Skip
The Interchain Foundation (ICF) has acquired Skip, a 20-person team deeply embedded in the Cosmos ecosystem, signaling a transformative shift in its operational model. The acquisition establishes a new subsidiary, Interchain Inc., which will oversee product development, ecosystem strategy and execution, led by Skip co-founders Barry Plunkett and Maghnus Mareneck.
The move departs from ICF’s previous model of funding independent teams to develop parts of the Cosmos stack. Instead, it centralizes development efforts to align work across the Cosmos Hub, its tech stack and the broader ecosystem.
Ethan Buchman, Cosmos co-founder and an outgoing ICF Foundation Council member, praised the acquisition as a pivotal step forward.
“[It’s] time to realize all the latent potential seething beneath the surface of the [Cosmos] and the [Cosmos Hub],” Buchman said. His company, Informal Systems, previously coordinated major upgrades like Interchain Security (ICS) and had identified Skip as its top choice for leadership in the ecosystem.
Informal Systems had made a “small angel investment” in Skip in 2022, but Buchman emphasized that the investment was repurchased by Skip to eliminate any perceived conflict of interest.
Plunkett described the acquisition as a deeply emotional moment for Skip, rooted in his ideological alignment with Cosmos’ mission. “Cosmos is the last ecosystem and stack that truly upholds the values of our movement: sovereignty for users and developers, permissionlessness, and trust-minimization,” Plunkett said on X.
Tackling Cosmos’ ‘liquidity crisis’
Skip aims to resolve what Plunkett calls a liquidity crisis in Cosmos. The lack of liquidity has hindered developers, driving many to alternative ecosystems. The Cosmos Hub and its native token, ATOM, will play a central role in addressing this issue.
The Cosmos tech stack — including the Cosmos SDK, IBC protocol, and CometBFT consensus — is utilized by over 115 interconnected blockchains and secures billions in assets. However, fragmentation, political strife and a lack of unifying leadership have created challenges for developers in recent years.
“The Cosmos Hub right now doesn’t serve any kind of functions for the broader ecosystem, and it’s extremely hard to build on,” Plunkett told Blockworks. “We need to fix that by making it easier for builders and ensuring the Hub provides services to grow and scale chains, especially in terms of liquidity.”
The acquisition is part of ICF’s broader strategy to centralize engineering, growth and marketing efforts, creating a cohesive vision for the development of the Cosmos Hub and the Interchain Stack.
Skip and ICF will seek endorsement from Cosmos Hub governance for their plan in January.
“But ultimately, we don’t have control over that at all," Mareneck said.
Magic Eden airdrops ME:
Magic Eden drops its ME token today, alongside an impressive number of listings across several tier one and two centralized exchanges.
About 10 minutes before launch, ME saw a 47% spike from $6.04 to a high of $8.9 on its pre-launch perps on Aevo. Two hours after launch, however, ME has cratered to a $581 million market cap, down 60% from $1.48 billion.
Users are reporting technical difficulties trying to claim the airdrop on the Magic Eden wallet. As part of Magic Eden’s criteria, users had to install its mobile wallet and link their other wallets before claiming.
— Donovan Choy
This month’s PPGC covered three main areas. Firstly, system improvements which includes the introduction of Erigon V3, PIP-43, PIP-49, and PIP-52. Second, is implementing Ethereum Petra Upgrade Compatibility through support for EIP-7702 via PIP-51. Lastly, is a Governance Upgrades through PIP-50’s expansion of community governance.
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