A little bit of chit-chat
The Evmos Core Development team swiftly addressed a critical vulnerability in Ethermint, a scalable and interoperable Ethereum library, built on Proof-of-Stake with fast-finality using the Cosmos SDK which runs on top of Tendermint Core consensus engine, in collaboration with Jump Crypto and the Cronos team. No malicious exploitation occurred, and the Cosmos ecosystem's stability was maintained. Jump Crypto was awarded a $25,000 bounty, which they donated to Médecins Sans Frontières. Evmos' proactive approach highlights their commitment to security, and developers are invited to join in maintaining Ethermint as a shared public good.
Answering all the questions about Neutron
Lexa Michaelides, a member of the Hypha Co-op, has posted a thoughtful Swiss Booklet on the community forum, explaining the most important points concerning the launch of Neutron as a Consumer Chain on the Cosmos Hub
In her analysis, Lexa highlighted technical risks such as the possibility of malicious or faulty codebases posing a threat to the Hub itself. She also raised non-technical risks, such as the impact on smaller validators' business prospects and the overall security of the Hub. Despite the risks, there are potential gains for the Hub in securing Neutron, such as increased revenue and utility. The decision to secure Neutron on the Hub will have significant implications for the Cosmos ecosystem and its stakeholders.
Neutron has the potential to bring increased activity and liquidity to the Cosmos ecosystem, benefiting both the Hub and ATOM holders
The increased revenue from transaction fees, 25% of which will go to the Hub, and other sources of revenue could contribute to the sustainability of the Hub while supporting the growth of the Cosmos network
Neutron's success as a DeFi hub could attract more developers and projects to build on Cosmos, further enhancing the ecosystem's overall value proposition
Despite these potential benefits, the partnership between Neutron and the Hub may not be indefinite. If Neutron fails to create value for the Hub and ATOM by bringing increased activity to the network, it could impact the financial benefits and overall security of the Hub. Additionally, if the costs of running Neutron outweigh the revenue generated, it may not be financially viable to continue. Evaluating the risks and benefits, conducting thorough audits, testing, and careful evaluation of financial impacts and performance are necessary in making the decision to proceed with the relationship between Neutron and the Hub.
A new consumer chain has been born
Stride, a liquid staking provider in Cosmos, is considering a proposal to transition to Interchain Security (ICS) and join the ATOM Economic Zone, adopting the security mechanism from Cosmos Hub. As part of the proposal, Stride would allocate 15% of its various revenue streams with the Cosmos Hub, including staking rewards, transaction fees, and MEV revenue, in exchange for enhanced economic security.
The adoption of Interchain Security (ICS) from Cosmos Hub would provide the Stride blockchain with a substantial boost in economic security. Currently, the economic security of Stride stands at ~ $22 million, whereas the Cosmos Hub boasts a much larger economic security of ~ $2.5 billion. As an ICS consumer chain, Stride would experience a nearly 115-fold increase in economic security.
The proposal requires affirmation from both Stride and Cosmos Hub's on-chain governance and highlights the potential benefits of increased security and partnerships with other Cosmos blockchains and DeFi applications. In addition, the implementation of ICS would involve a soft opt-out for Cosmos Hub validators and the handling of 450,000 ATOMs by a multisig entity, the ATOM Accelerator DAO, for providing liquidity on the Stride protocol through Astroport's Neutron deployment.
Overall, this move would position Stride as the first live blockchain to adopt Interchain Security and potentially open doors to collaborations with other Cosmos blockchains and DeFi applications.
Adding the LSM
Zaki Manian, co-founder of Iqlusion, has put forth a signalling proposal to replace the staking, distribution, and slashing modules on the Cosmos hub with a liquid staking module (LSM).The LSM is designed to safely and efficiently facilitate the adoption of ATOM liquid staking, which has played a crucial role in the development and expansion of Cosmos DeFi over the past six months.
The LSM introduces safety features such as:
Limit the total amount of ATOM that can be liquid staked to 25% of all staked ATOM,
Introduce a new mechanism called "validator bond" which requires validators to self-bond ATOM to be eligible for delegations from LS providers or to be eligible to mint LSM tokens
Ability for staked ATOM to be instantly liquid staked, without having to wait for the twenty-one day unbonding period
Limiting the percentage of liquid staked ATOM by all liquid staking providers to 25% of the total supply of staked ATOM prevents liquid staking providers from collectively controlling more than ⅓ of the total staked ATOM supply, the threshold at which a group of byzantine actors could halt block production.The LSM enforces this cap by limiting the total number of tokens that can be staked through interchain accounts and tokenized using the liquid staking module on the Cosmos Hub. Once this cap is reached, the LSM prevents interchain accounts from staking any more ATOM and prevents delegators from tokenizing any more delegations using the LSM.
The other safety feature introduced by the LSM is the validator bond mechanism. Validators who want to receive delegations from liquid staking providers or mint LSM tokens are required to self-bond ATOM. This additional self-bonding requirement adds an extra layer of security to the liquid staking process, helping to mitigate risks associated with liquid staking. The validator bond is technically distinct from the current self-bond mechanism but functions similarly to ensure that validators have a stake in the network and are incentivized to act in the best interests of the Cosmos ecosystem.
Finally, At the same time, the LSM introduces the ability for staked ATOMs to be instantly liquid staked, without having to wait for the twenty-one day unbonding period.This feature increases capital efficiency and enables users to easily participate in liquid staking without facing long lock-up periods. Overall, the LSM is designed to provide a safe and regulated path towards increasing the adoption of liquid staked ATOM in the Cosmos ecosystem. At present the proposal is pending community discussion and may be submitted as an on-chain signalling governance proposal in the near future.
Airdrop
Wrap Up
If you like our newsletter, share it with your friends so they can be also on top of the latest and the greatest (and sometimes not so great) of the Cosmos ecosystem.
In the meantime, feel free to follow us on Twitter @zkvalidator and visit our website to stake with us.