Epicenter brings you in-depth conversations about the technical, economic and social implications of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies. Every week, we interview business leaders, engineers academics and entrepreneurs, and bring you a diverse spectrum of opinions and points of view. Epicenter is hosted by Sebastien Couture, Brian Fabian Crain, Friederike Ernst, Meher Roy and Felix Lutsch. Since 2014, our episodes have been downloaded over 8 million times.
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episode 281: Ethan Buchman & Sunny Aggarwal: Cosmos – Launching the Internet of Blockchains
The shipping container brought standardization to the way we move goods around the world. Similarly, TCP/IP packets normalized how information transits over computer networks. Today, blockchains remain siloed ecosystems and interoperability is practically non-existent. A new wave of third-generation blockchain protocols aims to change this. In this new paradigm, blockchains communicate natively and value moves seamlessly from one network to another. One of those projects is Cosmos.
We’re joined by Ethan Buchman and Sunny Aggarwal of Cosmos. With its recent mainnet launch, we discuss how the network is running and address potential issues relating to governance and centralization of power.
Disclaimers:
– Cosmos (All in Bits) is a sponsor of the podcast.
– Brian is a former employee of Tendermint (All in Bits) and founder of the Cosmos validator Chorus One.
– Sunny, is a regular host on Epicenter and founder of the Cosmos validator Sikka.
– All participants in this interview are Atom holders.
Topics covered in this episode:
- The Cosmos vision and how it differs from Polkadot and Ethereum 2.0
- Building Cosmos and the “Game of Stake”
- The Cosmos governance process and current proposals
- Voter participation in the Cosmos governance model
- The role of validators and the importance of decentralization of power
- Validator market economics, related inherent issues, and centralization risks
- The Cosmos SDK and how it differs from Substrate
- The Cosmos Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) Protocol
- The role of the Interchain Foundation moving forward
Episode links:
- Cosmos website
- Cosmos SDK websitt
- Cosmos SDK (GitHub)
- Cosmos blog
- Sunny Aggarwal on Twitter
- Ethan Buchman on Twitter
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This episode is hosted by Brian Fabian Crain and Sébastien Couture. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/281