Cosmos Co-Founder Ethan Buchman on Building an Internet of Sovereign Blockchains

0:00 Ethan Buchman is the co-founder of Cosmos, an ecosystem of Interoperable blockchains which includes terra, osmosis and crypto.org, and has the most value locked after ethereum. It’s a complex network with many moving parts, and in the past year it has exploded with activity. How does it all work and what was Ethan’s background before coming into the space?

• Co-founder of Cosmos
• Blockchain that includes Terra, Osmosis and crypto.org
• Most value locked after Ethereum

10:58 Cosmos was an idea that was born and grown from as early as 2014. One of the fundamentals during this period was figuring out how to shift from proof of work to proof of stake. Ethan wanted to enable each project and community to be able to build and secure their own blockchain. It was Ethan’s goal to bring about a community computer revolution, steming from the personal computer revolution. How did this take shape over time? And what were the gaps he saw in the ethereum model?

• Cosmos has evolved from 2014
• Shifting from proof of work to proof of stake
• Every community could build and secure their own blockchain
• Bring about a community computer revolution

33:21 Using this sovereignty model gives all blockchain users an incredible amount of freedom to build their platform as they see fit. But with that comes a trade off, as they are more susceptible to attack than a larger chain such as ethereum. So where does Ethan stand on this security issue? And what preventive measures are there?

• Users have freedom to build as they see fit
• Is there a trade off? More susceptible to attacks?
• Is it safer to build on a larger chain?

48:31 – 49:13

The goal for the Cosmos Hub is for it to provide tooling for chains to launch and be optimised. It is a chain that is in service of everyone else. So what is the role of the Atom token within this ecosystem? And where does Ethan see Cosmos in the lng term?

• Cosmos hub provides tooling and optimisation
• A chain in service of everyone else
• Where does the atom token fit within this ecosystem?