Partner of Delphi Ventures: Inventory of the key projects that promote the ecological explosion of Cosmos

Compilation of the original text: Deep Tide TechFlow

Compilation of the original text: Deep Tide TechFlow

The Cosmos ecosystem has demonstrated strong growth momentum and technological innovation to the outside world.

Delphi Ventures partner José Maria Macedo took stock of some of the driving events in the Cosmos ecosystem: dYdX launched v4, Neutron and Sei two permissionless chains, Metamask support, etc., which will bring a large number of new users and dApps. In this article, these developments are dissected in more detail. The following is the original text:

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1) Native $USDC on Noble

Through Noble, the native USDC finally entered Cosmos. The importance of this stablecoin cannot be overstated.

Every ecosystem needs a native stablecoin, because with today's over $2 billion in cross-chain bridge attacks and counting, no one wants to hold non-native assets for long. $UST once filled this role in Cosmos, but its demise has left a huge void in stablecoin liquidity.

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2 ）dYdX v4

dYdX is the most successful on-chain derivatives DEX by trading volume ever, with a total trading volume of approximately $1 trillion.

The team has long embraced L2 and has chosen Starkware for 2020. Similarly, their research on the application chain is also very early, and they announced that they will move to the Cosmos application chain in 2022. The decision was bold and full of conviction.

This is a team that already has one of the most successful dApps in the space, with 9-10 figure transaction volume per day. But they still chose to rebuild from scratch using the Cosmos SDK.

Why are they doing this?

Why?

Why?

First and foremost reason: Sovereignty.

This move means that dYdX's products are no longer dependent on the decision-making or development speed of the Ethereum core team or any particular L2. They can go at their own pace and customize the chain to suit their own use cases.

This means being able to pick your own points on the scalability-decentralization-security trilemma. While L2s are fast, they are orders of magnitude slower than needed to run a large-scale DEX. They also sacrifice decentralization for speed.

Lisk's customizability allows dYdX to maximize scalability by having validators run an in-memory order book (i.e. off-chain), where only matching orders result in consensus.

This also means increased decentralization compared to L2, as everything (i.e. on-chain and off-chain components) can be run by a decentralized network of nodes rather than a single orderer or other centralized point of failure.

While a single sequencer does not pose a security risk because users can fetch back to L1, it is a liveness risk. Activeness is very important for derivatives DEXs, as high leverage means that even brief outages can lead to user losses and/or bad debts to the protocol.

Lisk also allows dYdX to explore more: sovereign MEV, mempool encryption, native oracles, etc. All of these help reduce external dependencies and capture additional value for stakers/users.

In summary, the launch of dYdX v4 will:

• Bringing many new users and liquidity to Cosmos;

• Demonstrate the power and diversity of the Cosmos SDK technology stack;

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3 ）Neutron

Neutron is the first general-purpose, permissionless cosmwasm SC chain secured by the Cosmos Hub (aka $ATOM).

As its name suggests, Neutron positions itself as a “neutral” hub for developers to deploy dApps on Cosmos permissionlessly

While a universal Lisk might not fit the narrative, not every dApp needs to be a Lisk. Starting an application chain is more expensive and time-consuming than deploying SC. For many dApps that do not benefit from customizability, this investment is clearly not worth it.

Juno and Terra have attempted to fill this role, but neither has the same credibility as Neutron given that they don't have the $ATOM behind them to back their security. Aside from the highest economic security in the universe, perhaps more important benefits are narrative/meme value and philosophical alignment.

Neutron makes it easier for dApps to start by including modules into their chain binaries. With this move, it also aims to be a governance and staking hub for cross-chain dApps, such as Mars Protocol/Astroport, etc. This is a smart move, as it means that cash flow from the various outposts in the universe will flow back to Neutron, boosting its internal GDP.

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4 ）Sei

Sei is also a permissionless SC chain. But unlike Neutron, it doesn't intend to position itself within the universe, but on a larger scale than the universe.

Sei's goal is to be the fastest L1, competing with Solana, Aptos, and Sui, among others.

Unlike the biased focus of its competitors, Sei recognizes and accepts that the current driving force in the crypto space is speculation and attempts to build a chain that is fully optimized for transactions.

This means speed and throughput (Sei has achieved 500 ms finality + 22,000 TPS on testnet), but also order book matching engine infrastructure, oracle price feeds protected by native validators, front-running prevention etc.

But good technology is only half the battle.

Sei understands that being a winner in the DeFi space requires not only good technology, but a thriving ecosystem that facilitates and drives speculation.

Sei takes lessons from other L1s and has the best growth/BD I've seen in crypto. This is rare in the cryptocurrency space, and even rarer in Cosmos.

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5 ）Metamask Snaps

Metamask has 30 million monthly active users, several times more than any other wallet. Outside of the native stablecoin, the integration of MM is undoubtedly the biggest boost in adoption, allowing users to interact with the new chain without having to learn new UX patterns.

You can use MM Snaps (Note: MetaMask's MM Snaps is a system that can extend the functionality of MetaMask. It allows you to add new APIs to MetaMask, support different blockchain protocols, or modify existing functions) Imagine A kind of app store that allows developers to write plugins that users can then add to their MM. Some Cosmos OGs are developing a new Snap that allows users to sign Cosmos transactions with their MM.

This will significantly lower the barrier of entry for users to interact with Cosmos. Unlike users who need to install new wallets, manage new mnemonics, and learn new UX patterns, MM Snaps will enable users to seamlessly access Cosmos.

This article is long enough so far, but there are not many driving events that have not been mentioned. Here is a rough list of some:

• In addition to Secret, the privacy chain will soon launch Anoma, Namada, and Penumbra, all of which may make Cosmos a leading privacy ecosystem;

• Osmosis launches centralized liquidity + order book;

• Injective launches Project X, a one-click launch platform for raising funds/launching projects on Cosmos;

• The introduction of ABCI++ will further expand the customizability supported by the Cosmos SDK.

Disclaimer: Delphi Ventures is an investor in dYdX, Sei, Neutron, and Anoma, and the original author also personally holds $INJ and $OSMO.