A little bit of chit-chat
A proposal has been posted on the Cosmos Hub community forum to lay out an Economic Model for Interchain Security 2.0 (also known as Partial Set Security). The proposal outlines a model that benefits smaller validators by allowing them to specialize in securing specific consumer chains, reducing their operational costs to an estimated $6,000 annually per operator from a previous $15,000. For stakers, the model ensures fair distribution of rewards and mitigates risks by proposing a Validators/Chain Revenue Ratio of 2-5%, aligning validator profits with chain revenue. Larger validators may see reduced dominance due to the Vote Power Cap.
DEVMOS 2024 TL;DR
Three weeks ago, builders from the Cosmos ecosystem got together at the DEVMOS 2024 conference in New York. Here’s a TL;DR on some of the talks that took place during those days. You can watch the whole thing here.
Daniel Burckhardt (Evmos), "Extensions Add EVM Wallet Support For Any Cosmos Message"
EVM-Cosmos Integration: Development of extensions to enable EVM wallets to support Cosmos messages. This integration will involve creating an interface layer that translates Cosmos transactions into EVM-compatible formats, allowing seamless interoperability between the two ecosystems.
Adoption Strategy: Leveraging EVM's vast user base and liquidity, Daniel suggests using EVM as a standard interface within the Cosmos ecosystem. By doing so, Cosmos can attract more developers and users from the Ethereum ecosystem, thus boosting adoption and increasing transaction volumes.
Jae Kwon (Cosmos), "Survey of Gnoland and GnoVM Development"
Gnoland and GnoVM Overview: Jae Kwon introduced the architectural design and unique features of Gnoland and GnoVM. These include a new smart contract language designed for better performance and security.
Future Enhancements: To improve scalability and security, Jae discussed plans to implement advanced consensus algorithms and sharding techniques. Additionally, there will be efforts to expand the ecosystem by supporting more complex and diverse decentralized applications, providing better tools and documentation for developers.
Dev Ojha (Osmosis), "Next Directions in Consensus"
Consensus Improvements: Dev Ojha proposed enhancements to current consensus mechanisms, such as transitioning to more efficient Proof-of-Stake (PoS) models and incorporating Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) protocols to ensure higher security and scalability.
Enhanced Interoperability and Incentives: Developing cross-chain consensus mechanisms for secure and efficient communication with other blockchain networks, and creating adaptive consensus algorithms that adjust parameters in real-time based on network conditions. Refining incentive structures to better reward validators, ensuring optimal network performance and security.
DeFi Impact: These improvements aim to make the Osmosis protocol more robust and reliable, which is crucial for DeFi applications. By reducing transaction latency and increasing throughput, the platform can handle more complex and higher-volume financial operations.
Ethan Buchman (Informal Systems), "Privacy Preserving Sidecar for CosmWasm”
Privacy Enhancements: Introduction of a privacy-preserving sidecar that acts as an intermediary, encrypting user data and transaction details before they reach the blockchain. This ensures that sensitive information remains confidential.
Integration and Use Cases: The sidecar will be integrated into the existing CosmWasm infrastructure, allowing developers to easily adopt privacy features. Potential use cases include private transactions, confidential business operations, and secure voting mechanisms within decentralized applications.
Alpin Yukseloglu & Roman Akhtariev (Osmosis), "Footguns in the Cosmos SDK”
Common Pitfalls: The presenters identified common issues such as improper state management, insecure smart contract code, and inefficient transaction handling. They provided detailed examples of these pitfalls.
Best Practices: Recommendations included adopting thorough testing protocols, using formal verification tools to ensure code security, and following established development guidelines to avoid common mistakes. They also emphasized the importance of continuous learning and staying updated with the latest SDK updates.
David Terpay & Nikhil Vasan (Skip Protocol), "Arbitrary Compute in Vote Extensions"
Governance Enhancements: By introducing arbitrary compute capabilities, vote extensions can support more complex decision-making processes. This includes executing conditional logic and multi-step transactions based on the outcomes of governance votes.
Implementation Details: The technical implementation involves extending the existing governance modules to include arbitrary compute functions. This will require modifications to the consensus logic to ensure that these computations are executed correctly and securely within the voting process.
Laurens Kubat (Quasar), "Decentralizing Off-Chain Processes"
Decentralization Strategies: Laurens Kubat discussed various strategies to decentralize off-chain processes, such as using decentralized oracles, implementing peer-to-peer networking for data exchange, and utilizing decentralized storage solutions like IPFS.
Technical Solutions: He provided examples of technical solutions, including the use of smart contracts to automate off-chain tasks and the integration of decentralized identity systems to manage access and permissions. These solutions aim to reduce reliance on centralized servers and enhance the security and reliability of decentralized applications.
Wrap Up
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