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From the very beginning, Cosmos set out to provide an alternative to the monolithic blockchain architecture proposed by Ethereum. Cosmos SDK was the cornerstone of this vision, as it allowed developers to spin up blockchains effortlessly. Its modularity enabled custom, self-sovereign chains to become a reality. And, instead of being a jack of all trades, those chains were centred around a sole purpose, thus transforming them into appchains. In turn, as the ecosystem grew, appchains had to be interoperable with one another, but this was already a core feature of Cosmos, via IBC. Before Ethereum’s rollup-centric roadmap, appchains were thought to be a much-needed scaling solution. However, with the advancements of zero knowledge technology, the Cosmos SDK now faces another set of challenges as it navigates the market demand for L2 scaling solutions.
We were joined by Marko Baricevic, Cosmos SDK product lead, to discuss the development philosophy behind the Cosmos Hub and how appchains evolved over time.
Topics discussed in the episode
- Marko’s background
- Cosmos SDK’s history and high-level overview
- Cosmos SDK modules and VMs
- Ethereum’s & Cosmos’ development philosophies
- Cosmos SDK value prop and use cases
- Cosmos SDK vs. other frameworks (e.g. Substrate)
- Token value accrual and the fragmentation dilemma
- Using the Cosmos SDK to build rollups
- Cosmos SDK vs. Avalanche’s HyperSDK
- Adoption of fraud proofs and validity proofs by the Cosmos SDK