What is Cosmos (ATOM)? Everything you need to know about ATOM token

In this article, we would like to introduce Cosmos - the Internet of Blockchains. We'll be covering the following topics:

• What is Cosmos? What are Cosmos’s features?
• Cosmos Tokenomic: key metrics, token allocation, and token use-cases.
• How/Where to earn and store Cosmos tokens?
• Roadmap & Updates
• Founders/ Team members, Investors, and Strategic partners

What is Cosmos?

Cosmos is an ecosystem of blockchains that can scale and interoperate with each other in a decentralized way. Before Cosmos, blockchains were separate and unable to communicate with each other. 

Cosmos solves these problems with a set of open source tools such as Tendermint, the Cosmos SDK and IBC which are designed to let developers build blockchain applications quickly.

How does Cosmos work? 

Tendermint BFT packages the networking and consensus layers of a blockchain together and allows developers to entirely focus on application development. As a result, Tendermint saves hundreds of hours of development time.

Cosmos SDK and other application layer frameworks: are generalized frameworks that simplify the process of building blockchain applications on top of Tendermint BFT.

Inter-Blockchain Communication protocol (IBC): The connection between customized blockchains and non-Tendermint chains is achieved through IBC and a special kind of proxy-chain called a Peg-Zone. IBC Connections and Peg-Zones enable separate blockchains to communicate with each other. 

Why is Cosmos unique? 

The set of open source tools including Tendermint BFT, Cosmos SDK and IBC has really empowered the Cosmos Ecosystem. Together the tools have proved their abilities to solve limitations of Scalability, Usability and Sovereignty which have been mentioned in the Cosmos Whitepaper.

Tendermint BFT (Scalability)

• Tendermint BFT only handles networking and consensus layers of a blockchain and leaves the application layer for developers. Developers can therefore build both public and private blockchains on top of the Tendermint BFT engine and have all the freedom to customize the rules that define how the validator set of their blockchain changes.
• Tendermint BFT allows high performance and instant finality (up to thousands of transactions per second).

The Cosmos SDK (Usability)

Cosmos SDK simplifies the process of building blockchain applications on top of Tendermint BFT. Developers can create application-specific blockchains without having to code every single line of code from scratch and use ready-built modules as well as import them into their applications.

IBC & Peg-Zones (Sovereignty)

IBC & Peg-Zones allows public and private blockchains to transfer tokens and data to each other, meaning that blockchains with different applications and validator sets are interoperable. 

→ Cosmos allows blockchain applications to scale to millions of users through horizontal and vertical scalability solutions.

What is ATOM token?

ATOM is the native token of Cosmos and it serves utility and governance functions. Details on its specific use cases could be found below.

Detailed information about ATOM token

ATOM Key metrics

• Token name: Cosmos
• Ticker: ATOM
• Token Standard: ERC-20, BEP-20, Cosmos
• Contract:
  • ERC-20: 0x8D983cb9388EaC77af0474fA441C4815500Cb7BB
  • BEP-20: 0x0eb3a705fc54725037cc9e008bdede697f62f335
  • Cosmos: IBC/27394FB092D2ECCD56123C74F36E4C1F926001CEADA9CA97EA622B25F41E5EB2
• Token use cases: Utility, Governance
• Circulating Supply: 222,870,768.22 ATOM
• Max Supply: Updating...
• Total Supply: 280,655,371 ATOM

ATOM Token Allocation and Release Schedule

ATOM Token Sale

Private sale:

• Seed Round: Sale conducted at a rate of 1 ATOM = 0.025 USD and raised a total of USD 300,000, selling 5.08% of total token supply.
• Strategic: Sale conducted at a rate of 1 ATOM = 0.08 USD and raised a total of USD $1.3295 MM, selling 7.03% of the total token supply.

Public sale: Public Fundraiser sale was conducted in April 2017 for a total raise of ~$16 MM USD worth of ETH at ~$0.10 per ATOM for 67.86% of the total token supply.

ATOM Token use cases

Major functions of ATOM include:

Utilities:

• Pay the system for processing transactions and storing data.
• Run a validating node as part of the network by participating in the staking process.

Governances: ATOM holders may govern the Cosmos Hub by voting on proposals with their staked ATOM.

How to store ATOM Tokens

You can store, send, receive ATOM on Coin98 Wallet with a few single steps. The guides on how to make transactions with ATOM on Coin98 Wallet are as follows:

Step 1: Open Coin98 Wallet & click Receive on the home screen.

Step 2: Search ATOM.

Step 3: Click on the appropriate chain (BEP20 or Cosmos), copy the wallet address and send ATOM to this address.

How to buy ATOM Tokens

Coin98 Exchange is a decentralized exchange (DEX), a Multi-chain liquidity aggregator that offers users a wide variety of DeFi services (swap, stake, lend, borrow,...) through intuitive and simple interfaces.

You can use Coin98 Exchange to swap other tokens for ATOM following these simple steps on: https://exchange.coin98.com/

Step 1: Connect to the Coin98 Extension Wallet.

Step 2: Choose coins/tokens for trading:

• Choose PancakeSwap New at the top of the trading screen.
• Search ATOM.
• If the token is not shown, insert the token address: 0x0eb3a705fc54725037cc9e008bdede697f62f335

Step 3: Adjust the amount you want to swap.

Step 4: Adjust the gas fee, then click Swap.

Roadmap & Updates

Accomplishments in 2021

• Stargate's primary new feature - Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol launched (February 2021) - On-Chain Upgrade
• July 2021 - Introducing Gravity DEX to enable enhanced liquidity for Cosmos Hub tokens.

Upcoming roadmap

Vega Upgrade (expected Q3 2021) includes Cosmos SDK v0.44; IBC v1.2; Tendermint v0.34.13; Cosmosvisor v0.1.0; IBC router module

Theta Upgrade (expected Q4 2021) includes Cosmos <> Ethereum Gravity Bridge; Transfers ATOM, ETH, ERC-20, and tokens on the Cosmos Hub between Ethereum- and Cosmos-compatible chains

Rho Upgrade (expected Q1 2022) includes:

• Tendermint v0.35
• Interchain accounts
  • A requirement in order to manage accounts across multiple blockchains
  • Aims to provide locking/unlocking mechanisms across IBC-enabled blockchains
  • Would allow custody providers to service any IBC connected blockchain through a common interface on the Hub.
• NFT module
• Enable simple management of NFT identifiers, their owners, and associated data, such as URIs, content, and provenance
• An extensible base module for extensions including collectibles, custody, provenance, and marketplaces

Lambda Upgrade (expected Q2 2022) includes:

• Interchain Security v2
  • Cosmos solution to shared security using cross chain validation and interchain accounts
  • Enables a parent chain, e.g., Cosmos Hub, to be in charge of producing blocks for a baby chain
  • Validators of a baby chain will have their ATOM stake on the Cosmos Hub slashed for misbehavior
• Token Issuance
• Enables creation of tokens directly on the Hub
• Aims to provide ERC20 capabilities

Is ATOM a good investment?

Below are some highlights for your consideration:

On October 13th 2021, the team introduced The Biggest Hackathon in Cosmos History with $1,000,000 of ATOM in Prizes - HackAtom VI. The competition will definitely attract good amounts of developers to build projects on Cosmos. The competition is spread out over six exciting themes: Ethereum on Cosmos, Starport, Interoperability, DeFi, End-User apps, and Gaming.

The project has proved its ability to create the Internet of Blockchain up to this point of time by producing blocks for its baby chains. It has Kava and Secret as the two emerging blockchain platforms built on it. The project is possessing the ability which not everyone can have.

According to its roadmap, the bridge between Cosmos <> Ethereum will be done at the end of this year (2021), allowing transfers of ETH, ERC-20 tokens on the Cosmos Hub between Ethereum → more asset flows go into the Cosmos Ecosystem.

There are 256 apps and services built on Cosmos at the moment of writing. The number is quite humble compared to other chains such as Solana (423 projects in all categories), Ethereum (220 DeFi projects), BSC (241 DeFi projects).

Additionally, demands for ATOM will increase not only when more projects are built but also when the Cosmos Network expands and more partners use the Cosmos SDK kit.

Team, Investors, and Partners

Team

Jae Kwon: The Founder and CEO of Tendermint, co-creator of Cosmos. He has a background in blockchain software architecture, computer science, and distributed systems. Jae has worked on numerous open-source projects including a cryptocurrency exchange.

Ethan Buchman - The co-founder of the Tendermint and Cosmos projects. He received a BSc in Physical Science and a MASc in Engineering Systems and Computing, both from the University of Guelph (Canada). He also runs CoinCulture CryptoConsulting, which offers in-depth courses on blockchain technology for both non-technical and technical audiences.

Kwon and Buchman later authored the Cosmos white paper, and released its software in 2019.  

Investors

The two-week initial coin offering (ICO) of the ATOM token was in 2017, and the project successfully raised over $17 million. Tendermint Inc. raised $9 million to continue the development of the project through a Series A funding round in 2019. Details of investors have not been disclosed yet. Stay tuned with Coin98 Insight for more information in the future.

Strategic partners

• Binance Smart Chain.
• Band Protocol.
• Terra Protocol.

Summary

This article has included the most critical and detailed information on the ATOM Token. Please leave any questions you have below, and we will get back to you as soon as we can!

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