The world of blockchains is experiencing a significant shift as different ecosystems and projects are beginning to converge and work together to scale the industry. This convergence is seen as a positive development by Ethan Buchman, the co-founder of Cosmos and current CEO of Informal Systems. In a recent conversation with Blockworks at Permissionless II, Buchman expressed his belief that the opportunity for convergence exists today, allowing different blockchain ecosystems to adopt similar architectures.
Buchman also highlighted the potential for moving beyond speculation and towards the development of consumer-focused applications with the introduction of new chains into the Cosmos ecosystem. This shift could mark the beginning of cryptocurrency achieving its political and social ambitions.
According to Buchman, Cosmos has been ahead of the curve in thinking about many of the problems that other ecosystems are only now beginning to address. However, he also acknowledges that there are areas where other projects have advanced further than Cosmos. Nevertheless, there is an opportunity for convergence towards similar architectures.
The app chain vision that Cosmos pioneered years ago is now being increasingly adopted as the way forward. This vision is based on a rollup-based scalability roadmap, where each rollup operates independently rather than relying on a top-down scaling framework. This approach is inspired by Cosmos and has gained traction in other ecosystems.
Buchman emphasized the importance of sharing good ideas between different projects. He believes that by improving Ethereum through the implementation of good ideas from Cosmos, the Ethereum community can benefit. Cosmos has always seen itself as part of the Bitcoin and Ethereum communities and has aimed to help scale these networks from the beginning.
The increased alignment between the Cosmos and Ethereum ecosystems is a natural progression driven by the success of rollups. Cosmos has already pioneered solutions to the challenges that rollups are currently facing. This success has opened up opportunities for Cosmos technology to contribute to Ethereum’s roadmap. As rollups gain traction, interoperability becomes a crucial factor, and Cosmos provides a suitable standard for achieving interoperability.
While some critics argue that Cosmos has a limited number of users, Buchman points out that there are plenty of users across the Cosmos ecosystem. For example, Terra, a blockchain built on Cosmos, experienced significant usage. Although some users may have moved back to Ethereum during the bear market, Buchman believes that user activity will pick up again as new blockchains are built within the Cosmos ecosystem.
Buchman acknowledges that the entire industry is currently focused on speculative activity and trading, which is why liquidity is concentrated on Ethereum. However, as new use cases emerge, user activity within Cosmos and other ecosystems is likely to increase. To achieve mainstream adoption, the technology needs to be utilized in the real world, beyond speculative use cases. Buchman and the Cosmos team are working towards this goal, but he acknowledges that it will take time to address the social, political, and economic challenges associated with cryptocurrency.
In conclusion, the convergence of different blockchain ecosystems presents an opportunity for the industry to scale and achieve its political and social goals. Cosmos, with its early focus on addressing key problems and its commitment to collaboration and knowledge-sharing, is well-positioned to contribute to the development of blockchain technology. As new use cases emerge and user activity picks up, Cosmos and other ecosystems will continue to reshape the landscape of blockchain technology.
