[DISCUSSION] Request the ICF to add a new mandate

INTRODUCTION The current vision of the Interchain Foundation is to ‘‘ fund, steward, and responsibly advance the Cosmos ecosystem .’’ This vision has created tremendous amount of technological innovation inside and outside of the ‘cosmos ecosystem’ (which can largely be defined as any public blockchain with IBC enabled) and would have likely not have been possible without the foundation’s money. Today, the IBC network is a truly vibrant ecosystem in the crypto sphere and the ‘Cosmos Stack’ (CometBFT + CosmosSDK) has convinced many talented teams to join the gang and build on it. The technological aspect of cosmos is starting to reach a certain maturity. This is why I want to discuss about adding a new mandate, second to the first : '‘ fund, steward, and responsibly advance the Atom Economic Zone’ ’. THE COSMOS HUB From the beginning, the Cosmos Hub has been a partner of other public blockchains, but the beginning was rough. It took more than 2 years after mainnet for the Hub to get it’s true first IBC connections (IrisNet and Osmosis). The Hub has been crucial in bootstrapping IBC and this is now done. It feels like IBC is slowly escaping velocity and becoming very…

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Hey man, I just wanted to say that this is a powerhouse idea.

Keep at it sir.

I think this is a great idea. I also don’t think it’ll be massively controversial within the ICF based on some of the conversations I’ve had with them. I think we should come up with a proposal of exactly what we’d want to fund.

I think some high level things that should get funding :

• Rollup IBC that connects to ICS chains for settlement
• Optimistic governance system and wallets with customizable parameter settings (e.g., rate limiting) to improve accountability for proposal spending
• Institutional wallet support (e.g., Fireblocks and other MPC wallets) for consumer chains to help bring in institutional funding
• Optimizing ICS node software to reduce costs on validators

Agreed. Needing to pass governance proposals and having to go through the associated drama each time is a big barrier to getting anything done on the Hub.

The assumption was always that investing in the Cosmos ecosystem will drive value to the Hub. The last few years has shown that this assumption is incorrect.

Considering the ICF was entirely funded with ATOM, it is high time that ICF focused on investments that accrue value to the Hub.

The Cosmos Hub’s role in bootstrapping IBC and its transition to an economic zone highlights the maturation of the technology and the ecosystem. The suggestion to extend the foundation’s support to the Atom Economic Zone acknowledges the costs associated with creating a new open economy and emphasizes the importance of continued financial support for teams contributing to this development.