Cross-Platform Blockchain Project Cosmos Launches First Hub After $17 Million ICO

Blockchain platform Cosmos, which is set to work as a mediator between different blockchains, has officially launched the first hub of its ecosystem on Wednesday, Mar. 13. The Cosmos initial coin offering (ICO), held in April 2017, raised a little more than $17 million.

The Cosmos Network, which describes itself as “The Internet of Blockchains,” was developed by California-based startup Tendermint Inc — a software development company that was appointed by Swiss non-profit Interchain Foundation to develop the cross-blockchain ecosystem.

The mainnet launch, which was announced on Cosmos Twitter, was also streamed live on Youtube, mimicking the launch of a rocket with Christine C., the community architect at Tendermint, dressed as an astronaut. The first block was mined at 11 p.m. UTC (7 p.m. EST) on March 13.

According to the Cosmos Network website, the company developed the scalable ecosystem, which allows different decentralized applications to interoperate on a single platform, for three years. The developers believe that Cosmos may contribute to solving some of the main problems in blockchain, such as scalability and interoperability.

The recent launch is reportedly the first in a series of proof-of-stake chains developed by Tendermint. As per a recent blog post, Cosmos Hub will further pass two more phases.

As Cointelegraph previously reported, a group of developers at crypto startup TenX in late 2018 successfully tested the use of its cross-blockchain interoperability protocol to transfer ERC20 tokens for Bitcoin (BTC) using the Lightning Network.

More recently, a report to the European Union made recommendations on how to better develop blockchain technology, including the introduction of interoperability and scalability standards. The paper, dubbed “Scalability, Interoperability And Sustainability of Blockchains,” was prepared by blockchain tech firm ConsenSys.