Cosmos is Forbole's entry point to the blockchain space. Cosmos has taught us a lot during our journey as a Cosmos Hub validator, developer for Cosmos projects' explorer Big Dipper, and active community contributor. We'd like to share some of our ideas about Cosmos and why we have joined in the first place.
I would like to talk about our thoughts on Cosmos, which is crucial to the success of Forbole. First, please be reminded that Cosmos and Cosmos Hub are different.
Cosmos is not a chain. It is not a coin either. It is an ecosystem made up of a lot of chains.
1/ @cosmos is not a chain. It is not a coin either. It is an ecosystem made up of a lot of chains. @cosmoshub is the chain. But it is not, and should not be the centre of Cosmos.
— Terrrrence 🖐 ☝️ (@terencesflam) December 7, 2019
Cosmos Hub is not the centre of Cosmos
As an independent “grassroot” validator (not VC-backed, not a participant of fundraiser, not from Tendermint team, not mining pools), Forbole have earned a place as a validator on Cosmos Hub. We are proud to be one of them.
But Cosmos Hub is not the centre of Cosmos. If Cosmos Hub will end up as the centre of Cosmos, I think this means the failure of the initiative. I envision a future that quite some ecosystem chains will have a larger market cap than that of Cosmos Hub. A Cosmos Hub validator should use their experience and knowledge (and capital, due to the raise of Atom’s price) to contribute and validate as many quality ecosystem chains as possible.
The hidden values of Cosmos Hub
People often ask the value proposition of Cosmos Hub (and hence its native token Atom). More than serving as the first hub of the ecosystem, Cosmos Hub means two things to me.
First, it demonstrates how a blockchain (more specifically, a “hub”) can be built with Cosmos SDK and Tendermint.
Second, it is a training school of validators. Cosmos Hub is the most battle-tested Cosmos ecosystem chain. It is a place for new validators to earn experiences and level-up.
Cosmos Hub: export quality validators
The competition among validators on Cosmos Hub is fierce. If the community can handle this fierce competition correctly, this can create an excess of validators’ attention which can be exported to support other blockchains.
The distribution of delegations on Cosmos Hub may be less than satisfactory to some validators. We at Forbole have also expected a significant loss of delegation due to fierce competition (price war). But we strongly recommend validators to see the forest through the trees: there are a lot of chains waiting for contributors like you!
Validators on Cosmos Hub should actively seek opportunities in other ecosystem chains such that we can truly co-build Cosmos: the Internet of blockchains.
The success of Cosmos’ community cannot be replicated directly
If you first watch a horror movie, you will enjoy the unprecedented excitements. But when you watch the same movie again, the excitements are gone.
More and more projects are built with Cosmos SDK/Tendermint and hence they are automatically regarded as “Cosmos ecosystem chains”. But the success of Cosmos’ community cannot be replicated directly, as the horror movie (aka Gaia XXXX, Gaia YYYY, Game of Stakes…) has been watched and hence we will not undergo the same unprecedented journey again.
Dear blockchains, you can fork the code. But you cannot fork the community. You have to incubate your very own community by creating a unique journey for them.
In this public, permissionless and open source world of freedom, your community is your moat.
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