Evmos is aligning developer and user incentives to bring Ethereum-based apps and assets to the interoperable networks of the Cosmos ecosystem.
Evmos is an EVM-compatible Cosmos SDK blockchain allowing developers to have all of Ethereum’s desired features while also benefiting from Tendermint fast finality and other benefits that a custom Cosmos SDK blockchain brings. Evmos is connecting the Ethereum and Cosmos ecosystems via a bridge to Ethereum and by utilizing the Inter Blockchain Communication Protocol (IBC).
Evmos is built on Tendermint Core, which depends on validators like Chorus One to commit blockchain blocks. These validators participate in the consensus mechanism by broadcasting cryptographically signed votes. Validator candidates can stake their own tokens and have others “delegate” them. The EVMOS is Evmos’ native token. You can stake with us to share our rewards. Evmos launches with 150 validators. The top 150 applicants with the largest stake become Evmos validators.
Executing the Tendermint consensus protocol will yield validators and delegators Evmos as block provisions and tokens as transaction fees. Initially, transaction fees will be paid in EVMOS, however, in the future, any Cosmos token can be used if whitelisted by governance. Validators establish a commission on delegate fees as an incentive. Token holders are responsible for steering and governing the network, including e.g. determining applications that should be incentivized with EVMOS tokens.
As previously stated, the dApps that will be available on Evmos can include everything currently on Ethereum and beyond. For example, AAVE is expected to be launched on Evmos. The introduction of Aave on Evmos will allow for an increase in user activity while also filling the demand for a dependable lending protocol on Cosmos. The core team also stated that they are currently working with Chainlink to implement Aave V3 functionality before the mainnet launch later this month. Other examples of applications on Evmos include NFTs and decentralized exchanges — such as Diffusion or Exswap.
Validating Rights: The weight of validators is determined by the amount of staking tokens bonded as collateral.
Inflation and Distribution: Over the first four years the newly minted tokens will be distributed, at each block, in the following way:
There will be no limit on token minting. Over 300M EVMOS will be coined in the first year and 1 billion in the first four meaning inflation after network launch is high.
Reward Rate: 7 seconds block production distributes the rewards. Variable APY (at the time of writing above 500%, check the official dashboard for current values)
Chorus One Commission: 5%
Target staking rate: 50%
Withdrawal Delay: 2 weeks, no rewards are earned during this time
Slashing: A validator missing more than 95% of the preceding 10,000 blocks will result in a slashing of 0.01%
Re-Staking: Manual, must be withdrawn from accrual pool
Additional details: Coinbase guide
Background
At Chorus One, we see blockchains and decentralised networks as paths to create a more free and prosperous world. At the end of 2017, the co-founders Brian Crain and Meher Roy recognized that Proof-of-Stake allowed a future of many different, interoperable blockchains. They felt that running infrastructure for those networks was an important role at the core of network operations, performance, and governance.
We were there at the genesis of the staking industry during the first of its kind incentivized testnet for the Cosmos Hub, Game of Stakes, a little over 3 years ago. In the meantime, staking has become our core business securing billions of crypto-assets across 28 decentralised networks. The market capitalization of all PoS assets has grown to $320bn, of which around ~68% has been staked. 9 of the top 20 assets use an underlying PoS network for consensus and 63 interoperability protocols have been built to bridge assets across PoS networks.
The Changing PoS Landscape
The PoS ecosystem has changed dramatically since 2018. We have seen new innovations like liquid staking, the singular world computer model turn into one with many modular and application-specific blockchains, and Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) become an increasingly relevant topic. At Chorus One, we are aiming to play a key part in innovation in staking. We recognized the importance of the financialization of staking and published an extensive report on the topic in 2020. After helping launch Lido for Ethereum, we took it one step further and built Lido for Solana to build one of the leading liquid staking applications on Solana, where we are also one of the largest validators. We have witnessed a rise in popularity of application-specific blockchains, to the point that there are now an ever-increasing number of networks that have established a connection to Inter-blockchain Communication (IBC) in 1 year. It could be expected that hundreds to thousands of application-specific blockchains could connect to IBC in the next years. MEV has evolved drastically since Phil Daian first released his research and coined the term in 2019. Value extraction is currently dominated by miners on Ethereum (MEV searchers currently pay miners on average >90% of their reward to include their bundles in a block) as most TVL and DeFi activity exist on the Proof-of-Work network controlled by miners. However, with the transition of Ethereum to PoS and alternative PoS networks increasing their DeFi activity, the value captured from DeFi activity will shift from miners to validators and their delegators.
Announcing Chorus One Ventures
Over the past 3 and a half years, we have developed unparalleled expertise in decentralised networks through launching and operating some of the most used protocols in the space. We have experienced what has worked for networks and what has not. We have provided input on token economics, mechanism design, node operation and key management solutions, validator relations, governance structures and GTM strategies. We value projects that we work with and always make sure to contribute in an impactful way. For this reason, we are announcing Chorus Ventures, which will be a $30m fund that is investing in outstanding decentralised networks, protocols and related products. Chorus Ventures will be managed by Xavier Meegan (Research & Ventures Lead), with oversight from Felix Lutsch and Brian Crain. To date, Chorus One has made 26 investments in this space.
Our Thesis
Chorus Ventures is investing in Proof-of-Stake networks, interoperability and middleware protocols and products. We believe at least 10% of humanity’s economic activity will run through PoS in 10 years' time bringing freedom and prosperity through open and transparent decentralised networks. We leverage our multidimensional relationships with network ecosystem participants and expertise in node infrastructure operations to connect and secure our portfolio of networks.
Chorus One secures PoS networks via operating reliable node infrastructure. Since 2018, we have participated in the launch of many Proof-of-Stake networks. We expect the growth of the PoS ecosystem to continue for many years. The Ethereum Proof-of-Stake merge is imminent, other Layer 1s see rapid increases in activities, and many teams choose to build their own application-specific Proof-of-Stake blockchain instead of a smart contract application. We back the strongest teams building PoS networks. We have already backed teams such as Osmosis, Celestia, Sommelier, Nym and Stargaze.
As a part of our investment focus in PoS, we aim to back teams that are innovating to onboard the next bn+ users into the ecosystem. We see liquid staking and staking tooling (e.g. UX improvements, wallets,…) as two key accelerators to PoS adoption. We have previously backed innovative products and protocols improving staking such as Lido, Obol, Anchor, and Steakwallet. We are in the early stages of innovation in PoS and we expect teams will continue to discover new optimisations, UX improvements and ways to combine staking with DeFi to improve capital efficiency and security for networks for years to come.
As the number of PoS networks continues to expand, interoperability tools must be developed to connect them to ensure a truly efficient peer-to-peer economy. Node operators that validate on many networks are best positioned to support and foster the growth of interoperability because they can use existing infrastructure to enable communication between PoS networks of any kind. For this reason, interoperability has been a key focus for Chorus One. Over the past 3 years, we have built components for trustless bridges into the IBC ecosystem, as well as operated nodes for and invested in multiple interoperability projects including Axelar, Connext, and Biconomy. We believe that we are entering into the very early stages of a modular, multi-chain future and interoperability will be necessary to connect all ecosystems together.
Middleware protocols provide common services and capabilities to applications outside of what’s offered by the underlying PoS network. Essentially, middleware is anything that can be utilised by developers to build their decentralised applications (dApps) more efficiently by using services such as indexing, oracles, cloud, analytics, storage, RPC node infrastructure, and more. A lot of middleware is focused on data and how dApps access it. If it weren’t for middleware, dApps would be limited to only using data that is readable on the network it was built on in an inefficient, computation-heavy way. Middleware is the crucial layer of the stack that improves the performance of dApps by connecting them to the network layer in a smoother way. Node operators in the middleware layer play a crucial role in transferring and transforming data between the network and application layers. We have previously backed middleware networks such as Covalent and have operated middleware networks including Chainlink and The Graph for years.
Why Partner with Chorus One?
As a node operator, we are there on the ground with you from the beginning until the end. We strive to continuously contribute to a network at all stages of its lifecycle. Whether that be from our platform team about node operation best practices or researchers about token economics and mechanism design — we have resources who can advise across all levels of the stack. We actively participate in governance on 30 decentralised networks and care deeply about fostering productivity when committing to a network (or protocol). We uphold values of radical transparency, continuous improvement and kindness. We aspire to partner with projects that share our values.
Reach out
If you are seeking funding for your project and want to work with Chorus One, we would be delighted to hear from you.
Reach out to ventures@chorus.one to begin your next venture journey with us.
Stargaze needs little introduction, it is setting the pace for NFT marketplaces in the Cosmos ecosystem. Stargaze is a network that has built an NFT marketplace from the ground up, including designing a new NFT standard (via a module) for the Cosmos SDK ecosystem that will eventually be interoperable across IBC. What’s unique about Stargaze versus other NFT marketplaces is the fact that the same currency (STARS) will be used to bid and sell as well as to secure the underlying network, which creates entirely novel economics that have not previously been seen before.
It is unlikely Stargaze will host NFTs that mimic other ecosystems such as Ethereum. Users can expect totally new collections to drop on Stargaze that combine elements that might be too computationally expensive to use in other networks. In fact, Stargaze solves many existing problems in NFT marketplaces that exist today. We have previously released a whole article on the different types of problems that Stargaze solves, such as centralised curation, bad security, difficult workflows, limited flexibility, high fees, scams, intransparency of contracts & royalty restrictions, which can be read here. In general, what makes Stargaze a powerful proposition is its unparalleled security, decentralisation, transparency and flexibility. Users, creators and curators will be able to maneuver NFTs like never before in Stargaze as it brings in a new level of fairness and fun to the Cosmos NFT ecosystem.
Stargaze launched Mainnet Phase 0 on October 30th 2021, launching the network with 0% initial inflation. Stargaze Mainnet Phase 1 occurred between December 16 — December 18 2021 to offer early adopters the chance to purchase STARS in Osmosis via a Liquidity Bootstrapping Pool (LBP). Our Research Analyst, Xavier Meegan, described the economics of LBPs to educate those in the Cosmos ecosystem about the benefits of LBPs, which can also be consumed for Cosmos LBP events in the future. The construction of the STARS / OSMO LBP was a first-of-its-kind, as Stargaze proposed to borrow OSMO to kickstart the initial STARS / OSMO pool weights. The borrowed OSMO was returned at the end of the LBP when STARS / OSMO weights hit 50/50 and STARS achieved price discovery. Stargaze Phase 2 was completed on Jan 1 2022 when it successfully started minting new STARS after the passing of governance proposal #2 to activate inflation for the network. As a part of Stargaze’s Mainnet Phase 3, Stargaze announced 25% of their token supply will be ‘fairdropped’ to ATOM and OSMO stakers + to Stargaze validator delegators on Cosmos, Osmosis & Regen as a part of their Mainnet Phase 3. By the conclusion of Stargaze Mainnet Phase 3, the fairdrop would have been completed and the Stargaze NFT marketplace fully-live ready for anyone to trade on.
We’re excited to be able to contribute to securing Stargaze to propel a new era for NFTs in the Cosmos ecosystem. Stargaze is unleashing unmatched economic freedom for creators, stellar incentives for curators and superior security for NFT traders and we look forward to contributing to its future success.
Stargaze is built using Cosmos SDK. Users can delegate their STARS to Chorus One using a wallet, such as Keplr.
Validating Rights: The weight of validators is determined by the amount of staking tokens (STARS) bonded and/or delegated as collateral.
STARS Inflation: 35% in year 1, issuance is reduced by 1/3rd every year after that
Reward Rate: Rewards from staking STARS will vary depending on the inflation and total amount of tokens that are staked at a given time. As of time of writing, the APR is ~120%. Learn more about the details of staking reward rates for chains built using Cosmos SDK here.
Chorus Commission: 5%
Withdrawal Delay: After withdrawing, your staked funds will only become accessible after the unbonding period (usually 21 days) has passed.
Slashing: You can get slashed (loss funds) in case the validator you are delegated to commits an offense. Make sure to do due diligence to minimize this risk.
Re-Staking: You need to withdraw rewards and re-stake them with some frequency if you want to make use of compounding returns.
2021 was an incredible year for Proof-of-Stake. As a major staking provider, we are keen to explore new ways to give back to our delegator community that enables us to pursue our mission to advance the staking ecosystem. For this reason, we decided to initiate the first NFT airdrop to our Solana delegators (see also the official announcement post covering the basics and our reasoning for the ‘Reaction’ drop). In this post, we want to expand on our collaboration with CoherenceNFT going deeper into the background of this initiative and on how our snapshot of on-chain data is impacting the generated art.
After Uniswap’s initial $UNI airdrop, there have been many further iterations to reward initial users and to bootstrap a community of dedicated users. While some airdrops currently try to form a community based on on-chain activity without much of a product (see $SOS and $GAS), others are trying to bring valuable users into their communities; this can especially be seen in the Cosmos ecosystem. Here, Osmosis led the way by airdropping a large portion of tokens to valuable Cosmos community members, an example many others are following, a recent ambitious example being the Evmos Rektdrop. As a validator, we found ourselves in a slightly different situation. We already have a sizable community of delegators earning rewards on their staked assets with us and we wanted to give them something unique to thank them for their support while working towards a larger goal.
We realised that NFTs could serve as a gateway for our ambitions to form an engaged community enabling us to reward our most valued supporters in a crypto-native way. Ultimately, we aim to weave NFTs — including the Reaction drop — into our products and services in creative ways. Stay tuned and hold onto your Reaction NFTs to get access to unique benefits as we explore the possibilities enabled by them!
We decided to begin in the Solana ecosystem, to which we attribute a lot of our success and which has a flourishing NFT ecosystem and low fees; uniquely enabling our initial concept: a large-scale NFT airdrop that is using on-chain data to create art with differing rarities based on our delegators’ profiles. We took a snapshot of the stake accounts delegated to the Chorus One public validator on Dec 8th, set a threshold for delegations of above 0.1 SOL, and aggregated addresses with multiple stake accounts. This resulted in 3,600 unique NFTs which we — in collaboration with CoherenceNFT — decided to further break down into 9 rarities. The NFTs differ in qualities depending on their rarity. This applies to the colours used, which range from new stakers which are coloured in Chorus One greens, to medium duration stakers that are coloured in Solana’s brand colours, to long-term stakers that receive a mix of both. In a similar fashion, the thickness of the lines used in the artworks depends on the amount of stake going from thin for lower amounts of stake to thick for large stakers. The chosen parameters resulted in the distribution illustrated in the image below.
Conclusion
We are thrilled to have started our foray into NFTs and are looking forward to expanding this effort and engaging with various other web3 tools complementing our services. Stay in the loop by jumping onto our Discord, Telegram or showing us your NFTs on Twitter. And while you do that, why not consider staking with us too? Who knows, you could lay your hands on another surprise NFT in the future!
We want to thank CoherenceNFT for this collaboration and are looking forward to engaging with other artists and projects in the NFT space in the future!
I’m excited to work with Chorus One to grow the Solana NFT community by creating an asset to expand the benefits offered to Chorus One stakers. More companies entering the NFT space are making NFT utility and adoption a reality. I’m hoping a broader and more diverse set of businesses and creators are inspired by this to make use of blockchains as a way to fulfil their visions. From a creative point of view, it was really challenging and inspiring to use a new creative mode, where I had to design in advance to reward different ranges of users according to the desired characteristics of the Chorus One team
CoherenceNFT
