Interchain Foundation Acquires Skip to Enhance Cosmos Ecosystem Coordination
The Cosmos ecosystem is evolving with the Interchain Foundation's (ICF) acquisition of Skip and the formation of Interchain Inc. This shift marks a transition from funding various teams to a more centralized strategy.
Interchain Inc., led by Skip co-founders Barry Plunkett and Maghnus Mareneck, will oversee product development and ecosystem strategy, as announced by ICF. A recent “community town hall” provided insights into plans for 2025.
A Unified Stack
Cosmos is known for its modular technology stack, which includes Cosmos SDK, IBC, CometBFT, and CosmWasm. However, Plunkett noted a lack of coordination in the ecosystem’s growth.
Plunkett stated, “There wasn’t any cohesive overarching connection,” highlighting that individual components were developing independently.
Interchain Inc. aims to integrate these elements through major upgrades to IBC, termed Eureka, and the Cosmos SDK. The SDK upgrade is expected to enhance performance by 10-25 times, while IBC Eureka will streamline the interoperability protocol, facilitating faster integration with external chains like Ethereum and Solana.
Plunkett explained, “It’s a massive simplification of the IBC protocol that’s really going to allow the ecosystem to connect to other chains beyond [Cosmos]…in days or weeks.” Zaki Manian likened Eureka to a hybrid of ‘IBC Classic’ and Hyperlane.
A key aspect of this strategy includes expanding virtual machine (VM) support, with an open-source EVM under development. Discussions are ongoing with projects like Injective and Cronos for adapting their EVM implementations.
Plunkett emphasized that most Cosmos chains seek a straightforward way to add EVM functionality, allowing Solidity contracts to interact seamlessly with Cosmos SDK modules.
Additionally, Cosmos chains will have the flexibility to utilize any VM, removing restrictions on building within the Cosmos framework.
The Role of the Cosmos Hub
Addressing liquidity fragmentation across chains is a priority for Interchain Inc. The independent operation of Cosmos chains has resulted in isolated liquidity pools, negatively impacting the ecosystem.
Mareneck stated, “One of the things we want to do is really unite that liquidity so that it’s more accessible from more applications.” The Cosmos Hub is central to this initiative, aiming to provide liquidity services and reduce developer friction.
Permissionless Interchain Security (ICS) will simplify onboarding to the Hub, no longer requiring governance approval for new chains to access ICS.
Interchain Inc. seeks to enhance the developer experience by ensuring the Cosmos Hub offers vital services. Plunkett remarked, “We need to make it easier for builders and ensure the Hub provides services to grow and scale chains.”
The Skip team's collaborative approach is essential for realizing this vision. Mareneck highlighted their existing relationships with various projects to foster growth from the Cosmos Hub platform.
Skip has been instrumental in supporting builders and providing user-friendly products, such as Skip Go, which accounts for over half of all IBC volume.
Rather than enforcing participation, the team plans to align incentives through positive reinforcement to encourage growth.
By consolidating development efforts and focusing on liquidity and accessibility, the ICF aims to create a more unified ecosystem, revitalizing the vision of Cosmos as the “Internet of Blockchains.”
Ethan Buchman, outgoing ICF board member and co-founder of Cosmos, views this move as an opportunity to address organizational challenges and fragmentation, stating, “This is really the first time I think we’ve taken a kind of revolutionary step to address that.”