Cosmos (ATOM) Price

An internet of blockchains

Cosmos was described in a 2016 white paper by Jae Kwon and Ethan Buchman, with the Swiss-based Interchain Foundation supporting development. Instead of one chain hosting every application, Cosmos provides building blocks for projects to launch their own sovereign blockchains.

Those building blocks include the Cosmos SDK for building chains, the Tendermint consensus engine, now maintained as CometBFT, and the Inter-Blockchain Communication protocol (IBC), which lets chains send tokens and data to each other. Many well-known networks have been built with these tools, even when they have no formal link to the Cosmos Hub itself. IBC went live on the Cosmos Hub in 2021.

The Hub and the role of ATOM

The Cosmos Hub went live in March 2019. ATOM is staked with validators to secure it, and stakers vote on governance proposals covering upgrades, spending from the community pool and economic parameters.

ATOM has no fixed supply. New tokens are issued as staking rewards, with the inflation rate adjusting within a governance-set range depending on how much ATOM is staked. Validators and their delegators can be slashed, losing part of their stake, if a validator double-signs or stays offline for too long. Unstaking takes 21 days, during which tokens earn no rewards and cannot be moved. The Hub has also offered its validator set to secure other chains through Interchain Security.

Factors in ATOM's price

A recurring debate is how much value from the wider Cosmos ecosystem flows back to ATOM, since chains built with Cosmos tools do not need to use the Hub. Proposals to change ATOM's tokenomics and the Hub's role have therefore attracted close attention.

Because a large share of ATOM is typically staked, the amount freely available to trade is smaller than total supply suggests. Upgrades to the Hub are voted on by ATOM stakers, so governance outcomes can directly change supply and staking incentives.

Frequently asked questions