Cosmoverse Conference 2021 kicks off in Lisbon

The team behind interoperable blockchain network Cosmos (ATOM) recently hosted the Cosmoverse Conference live from Lisbon, Portugal.

‍‍Cosmonauts,#Cosmoverse it’s LIVE!This event is 100% from the community to the community, and we are proud to have our Cosmos Hub Community Pool as the main sponsor!Tune now to the livestream and prepare yourself to dive into cosmos’s wondershttps://t.co/OzyD3bSdqB pic.twitter.com/QFXHu5l3B6

— Cosmos - Internet of Blockchains ⚛️ (@cosmos) November 5, 2021

Kicking off the two-day event, Zaki Manian, co-founder of Decentralized finance, or DeFi, project Sommel and former lead developer at Cosmos and Tendermint (Cosmos network's core contributor), discussed a number of technologies under development Cosmos ecosystem.

According to Manian, a development called ABCI ++ will enable the addition of consensus events on other blockchains to the block production process, improving the efficiencies of cross-chain bridges and oracles on the network. Next, developers can use dIBC functionality to introduce governance proposals across different blockchains instead of only IBC token transfers. Thirdly, liquid staking would allow users to stake their ATOM while receiving a derivative of the asset that can be used in DeFi applications. Finally, interchain accounts are meant to help build multichain applications, where decentralized autonomous organizations, or DAOs, on one chain can directly control accounts or wallets on another.

Sunny Aggarwal, co-founder of Osmosis, a decentralized exchange, or DEX, on the Cosmos ecosystem, elaborated on the concept of liquidity staking further during the panel. Aggarwal explained that coinholders could soon earn better yields by simultaneously accessing multiple DeFi pools with the same underlying tokens. He raised the example of users pledging their Osmosis (OSMO) tokens to provide trading liquidity for the exchange, receiving OSMO liquidity provider tokens, and then depositing the same OSMO LP tokens back into a staking pool. So coinholders can harvest the yield in the LP pool and the staking pool all at once.

In another segment, Enrico Talin, co-founder of Commercio.network, claimed to have created the first legally-binding blockchain in the world. Its infrastructure stores encrypted versions of users' personal data, such as vaccine records, driver's licenses, passports, etc. Theoretically, users would be able to send their electronic signature and proof of identity over the blockchain when requested, such as when signing up for a new bank account. The verifier can then confirm, via decentralized consensus, that the signature is genuine and the documents are from a legit issuer.

However, no personal data is exchanged on the blockchain, only their proofs. Talin then discussed the possibility of creating legally binding nonfungible token, or NFT, contracts that confirm the ownership of real-world assets. Later this year, privacy-broadcast features, IBC, and legal document NFTs will all be available on Commercio.network.