# Proposal # XXXXX Launch Aether EVM as a Consumer Chain for the Cosmos Hub
aether1 800×360 218 KB Social Links Website: https://aetherevm.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/AetherEVM_ Telegram: Telegram: Contact @AetherEVM Summary This proposal seeks Cosmos Community support for a FPI (Free Public Infrastructure) launched EVM to become part of the AEZ while being secured by interchain replicated security. • Deploy an Atom stake holder aligned EVM that requests no sunk time or capital cost from Atom community pool. • Align the development with the Cosmos Hub and the Cosmos Community. • Accept the hierarchy of needs within the Cosmos. Atom stake holders are sovereign and deserve access to EVM tooling. • Deploy established EVM DeFi primitives to strengthen the utility of ATOM and its liquid staking derivatives. The document within provides details about Aether’s future and symbiosis to the Hub and advocates for Aether to launch as a consumer chain which utilizes replicated security. It also observes community feedback from EVMs which have failed to acutely capture market need, which is a byproduct result of the over reliance on venture capital and under reliance on the true spirit of crypto. Aether Goals • Expand the activity…
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Code is complete, testnet is ready to deploy as soon as needed, binaries will be released shortly.
Aether will need help for the testnet launch. If you are a validator or a Cosmos community member interested in supporting us in the early days please join our communities.
let’s talk! I’m from Hypha Co-op and my team coordinates the Cosmos Hub Replicated Security testnet, where all our consumer chains have gone through testing and launch rehearsals with validators from the Hub’s active set. My TG handle is @lexamichaelides.
Took a quick look for now, but like the initial sound of it. Interesting. Is this using Polaris or the Evmos codebase?
Edit: Nevermind. I see “Continue the development of the Ethermint SDK/modules (which were funded by ATOM community pool) with an open-source license.”
Looking forward to have @lexa & Hypha’s feedback on the actual code after review.
We will give this project a thorough analysis and a complete due diligence after you made the first early green light checks.
If atom is gonna be used as Gas .
What will be the usecase of Aether ?
How about a dual token system where atom is used as gas
But aether holders earn atom through fees on the networks
Sort of real yield that ll increase atom usage and also benefit aether users
Something similar to $Maya and $Cacao
There are a lot of EVM-based L1s in the market right now. I think the biggest failing of many of them is a lacking go-to-market strategy and an inability to attract significant high-impact projects and developers. There are only a handful of devs in Web3 right now and every L1 is competing for the same market share.
Without some strategy on how to increase that market size and get tons of non-crypto native devs to build Web3 products I can’t imagine any new EVM L1 succeeding. I don’t see any up and coming project like Aether doing that better than Base, Optimism or Polygon, given their experience, network, and the size of their war chests. Additionally, a lot needs to change in the underlying tech in terms of UX before enterprises and developers outside of Web3 are going to be drawn in.
Don’t get me wrong, I think having a successful EVM-based L1 in the AEZ can be incredibly good for ATOM. But from the way this proposal reads I have no reason to believe Aether can solve any of the above mentioned concerns better than the competition can. I would encourage the team to address these critical obstacles to success before going on-chain.
in my opinion (sorry no offense) it would be 100x better for AEZ to have Union or Polymer
Happy to support for node operations DM me @mohammedpatla on twitter/discord/telegram.
Like the ATOM Gas usage across the CosmosSDK stack.
Just wanted to thank the Aether team for this thoughtful post. It is obvious you have been paying attention to current ICS structures, and even the concerns some have had. The fact you already seem to have a pulse on the ecosystem and probably some awesome advisors helping you navigate this is comforting. A few thoughts & questions from your proposal that I have: • What EVM framework will you be using: Ethermint, Polaris, or something else? Polaris has fixed some issues and inefficiencies experienced with Ethermint and will be open sourced by the Bera Chain team. It is also an OS library that will have continued development into the future which there is not necessarily the case with Ethermint. • The Aether token - With ATOM having utility as the gas token and seemingly a base currency, what all will be the purpose of the Aether native token? How will it maintain its value and create demand? Have you done research on dual & multi-token systems? • Team Vested Tokens - Will there be any sort of cliff and vesting period, or just a straight unlock at said times? Will the team be staking the entirety of their vested tokens? We’ve seen in the Cosmos that stakeable vesting…
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Thanks @lexa for your support. We’d like to reach out to you to begin the review process for a successful deployment and look forward to making updates here for the community. Please contact our telegram handle @Aetherevmcosmos so we can collaborate, we seem to be unable to message you directly.
Edit: Looks like part of our post was left out, the original post has been updated to include the missing sections
Hello, I think having a evm in aez make sense.
I maybe skip something but can you be more precise of aether token?
Aether is aligned with the desires of ATOM stakeholders who have shown a clear interest in EVM tooling. As stakeholders ourselves, our focus extends beyond the competition among chains and tokens. We recognize that ATOM’s intrinsic value is already well established, as reflected by its market capitalization. To us, EVM is a tool akin to the hammer and nails of the industrial era—it’s about leveraging the right tools to enhance utility, not simply engaging in technological rivalry. Within the Cosmos ecosystem, a gap exists between the abundance of infrastructure engineers and the scarcity of app engineers. It’s this gap that Aether aims to bridge. Apps foster product development, which in turn facilitates better market formation. Our mission is to integrate existing and proven primitives for ATOM stakeholders, fostering a robust DeFi market within Cosmos. This initiative is not about starting from scratch with a blank-slate EVM; it’s a concerted effort to enhance ATOM’s utility and market dynamics. Currently, the Cosmos ecosystem lacks a competing EVM chain. Yet, there’s an untapped potential in $3 billion of liquidity and an emerging market of staking derivatives waiting to be…
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1.Aether will utilize Ethermint as its foundation, as Polaris is currently not production-ready and lacks open-source licensing. The open-source ethos is a core value within the ecosystem, aligning with the cypherpunk ethic that has been a driving force in the crypto world. 2.Aether’s utility will be elaborated on in upcoming blog posts, but in summary, it will benefit from revenues generated by the DeFi primitives launched on the chain. Additionally, Aether will be utilized for airdrop snapshots for primitives requiring separate tokens. 3.Staked tokens will remain locked for the duration specified in our forum post. Staking rewards will be liquid, but the inflation rate will be lower compared to other Cosmos chains. 4.You will be able to select one of the four staking options when you claim your airdrop, the default will be the minimum tier. 5.The mentioned incentives are for the testnet, and Aether welcomes support and guidance from experienced validators as the project progresses. 6.Aether seeks to bolster ATOM’s strength and position within the Cosmos ecosystem. While it doesn’t request anything from the Hub, it does seek encouragement and support from ATOM…
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• Polaris is very close if not ready. It will be open sourced after the launch of Bera Chain, the initial Polaris project built by the Polaris contributors. You will be making a very very very big mistake by choosing Ethermint of Polaris. I used to be a core contributor to Evmos, so I say this with some insight. Just a quick watch if you havent seen this presentation , I have it starting on the Polaris section. • If Aether isn’t even the gas token and is essentially just a farming token, this creates a different conversation for the Hub. They will be diluted in perpetuity unless mechanisms to stake are implemented. With no real value or reason to keep Aether, it will be hard to maintain value and demand. Airdrop dumpers will compound this issue as well if thats a main usecase. • So none of the locked team tokens will be available until the entirety of the locking period is done? No cliff or linear vesting? • Cool • That will definitely help the validators who are running and supporting your network. There are plenty who will be more than happy to contribute, including us at Cosmos Spaces! I recommend a clear token release plan that takes into account the total amount…
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1.Polaris for now is closed source we cannot speculate on when/if its going to be open sourced. ATOM needs a hedging product now. At a later date we can reconsider polaris, but delaying launch indefinitealy to seek perfection is not a winning strategy. 2.Aether will be integrated in the DeFi mechanisms that will be launched and the Aether community pool will get a share of whichever revenue generating token Aether launches. 3.Yes 8.Agreed and part of the focus will be on creating the perfect conditions to make deployment desirable but not depending on it. 9.Dex is just one of many core primitives which will be deployed, value add will come from many angles. Aether shouldn’t be seen as just an EVM but bundle of core primtives. There is no real play book besides that capital is trapped on an island, and can not express itself. This has been an ongoing issue for any network out side of Bitcoin. Eth did not get out of its airdrop and ICO phase until proper products were built so larger positions and more flamboyant investors could create dynamic hedging strategies to preserve principle of their native chain holdings and reduce spot market pressure. A lot of people expres…
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Lots of words here! Thanks for posting so much information.
One question:
- Who are you?
- Can you provide the same amount of detailed information about aether and the team as you have about nearly every other aspect?
- please provide your names (or aliases), past work history, past projects, GitHubs, twitter handles, etc.
- what makes you guys best positioned to launch an EVM? What experience do you have scaling projects successfully?
Ya know, normal stuff you would want to know.
My first thought is that it is another Canto but deployed as Cosmos Hub’s consumer chain, which is not attractive at all (at least for me). You shared a lot about revenue sharing but there is another critical question you haven’t delivered in this proposal:
How can Aether win against other EVM chains like Evmos, Berachain, Kava or L2s on Ethereum? How can Aether acquire the market share from other EVM chains?
AFAIK, Neutron’s goal is also to become a liquid staking Hub. How will Aether “grow the pie” instead of just competing directly with Neutron for liquidity?
Generally speaking, I am in favor of having an EVM consumer chain and this is a good sounding proposal. However, I want to avoid the Neutron scenario where a brand new consumer chain is forcing the validators to subsidize it. I am much more in favor of a process where a standalone chain is first created, product-market fit is demonstrated and once the chain generates enough revenue for validators to break even and its product fits the Cosmos Hub strategy then it can be promoted to a consumer chain and given the Cosmos Hub stamp of approval. Stride is an example of such a path to becoming a consumer chain.
So at present I would be against Aether becoming a consumer chain.
Saw a lot of debate about the evm CC on twitter but i think this proposal has 0 downsides for the hub. Finally a good well thought proposal not asking for money, i don’t see any cons, the chain has been developed for free and ATOM stakers will get majority of the supply.
Neutron airdropped 9% of the supply and stride 6% of the supply and not entirely to ATOM holders, Aether will have the highest lvl of community alignment given a bigger % of the supply will be airdropped to the community.
Large community ownership of the supply outweighs any other downside people have pointed out.
TLDR:
This proposal should be supported as it breaks the trend of ATOM never getting anything for free.
Yay. One more consumer chain which wont add any value to ATOM (no offense against the project itself)
Totally agree with you.
Plus, who is the team behind Aether? Resume?
Spotted a typo, DyDx.
“Whether you look at DxDy or many upcoming Cosmos chains, all of them have favorable interest in the Cosmos and the underlying strategy.”
Anon team, Banking on EVM just magically bringing products and users, potentially launching with a subpar techstack without license, running a techstack that is incredibly unstable for validators and eats resources like a madman, Timing means it will be directly competing with Berachain, the shared revenue is basically 0 - even if adoption picks up, Ethermint doesnt have complete GMP style IBC making Aether non-composable with the rest of the AEZ, little information about the actual primitives that are launching and who will be maintaining them, no strong story to attract liquidity and users, overemphasizing on a community airdrop while the only party who will bear costs for this chain are validators, a lot of text, no true technical details or answers and most of all no direct need for 2 billion in security.
Maybe a deep dive into the team behind this and a technical document about overcoming Ethermint (IBC) issues will change my mind but for now this proposal is a clear No for us.
Best regards,
Ertemann - Lavender.Five Nodes
I second the interest in learning who the team behind the project is. Could you let us all know? Thanks!
A bit bizarre how they don’t respond to anything in here or their Telegram chat. About all I see from them right now is posting AI pixel images on their Twitter and talking about an airdrop and the things it will have when it’s a consumer chain.
Red flags, imo, unless they become more professional and try to engage.
^ this
We need more transparent information on the team involved with this project.
I’ll be that guy [flame suit on]… Do we not already have enough EVM compatible chains? If not within Cosmos, outside of Cosmos? Would it not be more forward looking to support a VM that is growing versus losing market share this cycle (2024 cycle) and next cycle (2028 cycle) approaching 2030? ^ This is a fact, I am not going to argue this with anyone. Ethereum will lose market share to many other L1s this cycle and next cycle. Why? • High Gas Fees • Extra Steps Bridging Assets • Staking Centralization • Security Flaws (other blockchains have these too) • Mainstream VC darling Solana is knocking on it’s front door. I know this is a proposal to become a consumer chain (out of scope and slightly off topic of this thread), but believe some people were thinking it and just not saying it. I can’t sit here and say if this were an SVM compatible chain it would be any better of an idea. For me, Solana would need to go through at least all of 2024 without halting their chain/going down. Outside of trying to become a consumer chain, why should we care about Aether over any other EVM compatible chains already available in the Cosmos Ecosystem that haven’t gained much…
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You are not the only one. There is a million other reasons to lower the priorities of those type of props 1 year down the line IMO
Quite understandable
I’m new in here, love the Alpa guys!! 
@hub.tusz.mod 
I appreciate the effort that was put into aligning Aether with Atom, but a hard no on this proposal is entirely justified. The world does not need another EVM compatible chain, especially one that can’t compete with Sei.
Re consumer chains in general, we (validators/Cosmonauts) need a way to tally how the big validators intend to participate in new chains. There’s significant work in spinning-up a validator and its sentry nodes and all that work would be moot if the big validators simply don’t validate the new consumer chain.
With WASM on Neutron vs WASM on Solana and EVM on Aether vs EVM on Avalanche, ATOM’s track record of running headlong straight into a buzz saw remains unbeaten!
I don’t think you are gonna win EVM business from Emin Gun Sirer or WASM business from Yakovenko. Doesn’t hurt to try but the odds are HEAVILY against you.
How is it that the chain will be launched soon in testnet on ICS without a governance proposal and approval? Your communication already states that the launch is on 17 January.
Rehearsing on testnet before governance is ideal – gives everyone more context and confidence in their code before deciding what happens on mainnet.
I would propose that Aether be launched as an Opt-in consumer chain.
I see that a lot of people in this thread are still in the mindset of Replicated Security, and that’s understandable. But with the next update to ICS, it will be possible for consumer chains to be launched that are optional for validators to run.
In this case, nobody needs to worry about whether it’s “worth it”. Let validators decide if they want to run it or not.
how do they decide ? whispering ? governance ?
Totally agree here. This would be a great opportunity to showcase the opt-in feature in and new developments with ICS.
This would also be an easier route for Aether, and if needed they can eventually evolve into the n+ mechanism you’ve described.
Seeing as they have their testnet upcoming, they would be able to let enough validators know they’re launching and have a good start at getting a portion of the active set to support their launch.
any timeline on the next update of ICS? Pretty excited about this.
Hey everybody, till now we have been extremely busy with the validator testnet and the upcoming user testnet while preparing for launch.
But from now on we will make sure to reply to any question posted here, many people advised us to do so, as the Cosmos hub forum is the core of the governance debate.
As we are getting closer to the PSS release, we are eager to hear about your latest advancements if you’re willing to share them here!
Hello @aetherevm
So where do you stand?
Is the launch still scheduled for 17 January?
Are you accompanied by teams from the cosmos to embark on PSS? Do you need any assistance?
In other words: is everything going according to your plans? 