The rise of Cosmos
White Star Capital Digital Asset Fund - newsletter #101
What is Cosmos?
The Cosmos White Paper was published in 2016. The network was built to become the Internet of blockchains, where its founders wanted to create an interoperable platform where all blockchains could communicate, share data, and perform transactions with each other.
Since Cosmos was created, interoperability has been a complex task for the developer teams. Indeed, the Cosmos network is a constantly growing ecosystem of interconnected applications and services. It uses different hubs, a consensus algorithm called Tendermint, and the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol so that blockchains can communicate with each other in a secure manner. Then, Cosmos offers open-source tools to allow developers to create decentralized, sovereign blockchain applications called zones (in other words smart contracts) instead of relying on a single chain.
Cosmos 2.0 and what’s next
Cosmos has begun its roadmap in July 2022, giving a one-year guideline in which stakeholders can anticipate updated functionality on the Cosmos Hub, with the greatest degree of specificity available for the most immediate upgrades, and decreasing accuracy available further out the timeline.
Last month, the network held its annual Cosmoverse conference in Medellín, Colombia. Several important elements were shown such as the publication of a white paper about the Cosmos Hub and the future of ATOM (the Cosmos token). In addition, some updates were announced including improvements on MEV distribution, a plan to open up liquid staking, and an initiative that will allow Cosmos to better invest in new projects in the ecosystem to remain competitive in the Web3 space.
Until now, the chain has focused on the technology itself and now needs to develop its narrative which seems to be more and more important for Cosmos. Business development units and Marketing units will probably appear in the short term. It would be good timing because we can see more and more Twitter accounts talking about this space. The Web3 community seems to be more and more optimistic about this technology, with a lot of projects being built across Cosmos. The future is yet to come!
🔦 White Star & Portfolio Spotlight
Atlendis Labs and Polygon announce MATIC rewards program
The rewards program will include132,500K MATIC to boost liquidity on the Atlendis protocol.
Alex introduces STXDX and its Token XDX
STXDX (Stacks-DEX) is the first order book DEX built on Bitcoin via Stacks.
Haruko announce a strategic partnership with enable fund services
The partnership will provide asset managers in APAC with an ‘all-in-one’ operational solution to deploy capital in the crypto ecosystem.
🏦 Enterprises & Institutions
Mastercard Taps Paxos to launch crypto trading for banks
Payments giant Mastercard is teaming up with Paxos to launch crypto trading for banks by taking care of compliance and security.
Crypto.com invests $145M in new European headquarters
The Singapore-based crypto exchange announced Paris, France as its regional headquarters after receiving its French Digital Asset Service Provider license in September.
Binance exchange burns $547m worth of BNB tokens
The burned amount suggests that the exchange may have profited by $2.7b in the third quarter of 2022.
Shopify partners with Novel to deliver accessible Web3 for merchants
Novel can deploy smart contracts over the NFT collections and make them available to users for purchases on the Shopify storefront.
⚖️ Government & Regulation
Regulators are targeting stablecoins due to ‘crazy product market fit’: Compound’s Robert Leshner
Stablecoins do what Bitcoin was expected to do, says Robert Leshner, adding that ‘if left to their own devices’, they ‘will win and conquer everything.’
Bank of China: digital yuan transactions volume crossed $14bn mark
China’s CBDC project has reached the mark of 100.04bn yuan, making e-CNY the most widely adopted CBDC in the world.
Brazil’s Rio de Janeiro will accept crypto-payments for property taxes
The city will receive funds in local fiat currency at no additional cost to taxpayers.
Blockchain.com gets regulatory nod from Singapore’s central bank
Blockchain.com has received in-principle approval to offer its Digital Payment Token services in Singapore.
France approves its third-biggest bank to operate digital asset services
French banking giant Societe Generale has been approved to operate digital asset services through its subsidiary Forge.
💰 Funding & Exits
Why Sequoia Capital is Raising $600m to launch new crypto fund
The venerable venture capital firm Sequoia Capital is looking to raise $600m for its first crypto-specific fund, primarily investing in liquid tokens and digital assets.
Uniswap Labs raises $165m as attention shifts to NFTs and Web3
The Series B funding confirms earlier reporting from Cointelegraph that Uniswap Labs was looking to raise between $100m and $200m.
ChainSafe raises $18.8m to build long lasting blockchain dev tools
In five years, blockchain infrastructure firm ChainSafe went from bootstrapping to raising an $18.8m Series A led by Round13.
Crypto gaming infrastructure platform Stardust raises $30 million: Bloomberg
Stardust raised $30m in a funding round led by Framework Ventures.
🚀 Project Launches & Updates
Cosmos developer to offer a stablecoin built built for the interchain
Agoric CEO Dean Tribble predicts that JavaScript will allow crypto’s smart contract world to move into the mainstream.
Illuvium gaming studio token now listed on Coinbase
Illuvium ILV token to USD trading pair opened on Coinbase on October 13th.
Decentralised exchange protocol Uniswap V3 is deploying on zkSync 2.0
A governance proprosal that would deploy Uniswap V3 on the Ethereum scaling solution zkSync passed earlier today.
Sega’s first blockchain game to launch on Oasys blockchain
Sega corporation has partnered with Double Jump Tokyo to release the blockchain-based version of Sangukushi Taisen.
🔥 Other Bits We're Excited About
'Solana Killer' Aptos launches its highly anticipated mainnet
The VC-backed Layer 1 solution was built by Meta alums and touts a novel transaction-ordering algorithm.
Ethereum wallet MetaMask adds instant bank-to-crypto transfers
Crypto wallet MetaMask is making it easier for users to turn their fiat into crypto through an integration with fintech firm Sardine, MetaMask parent company ConsenSys announced this week.
Dapper Labs, CryptoKitties co-founder signs with Hollywood agency WME
Cofounder of CryptoKitties and Dapper Labs Mack Flavelle has signed with top Hollywood talent agency, WME.