Remove ICS from the Cosmos Hub (Software Upgrades to Follow)

This forum post is meant to notify the community of two upcoming software upgrade proposals that will impact the operation of Interchain Security on the Cosmos Hub. The first proposal will prevent the creation of new consumer chains, and the second proposal will remove the ICS module from the Gaia codebase. Background Interchain Security launched in May 2023 to significant fanfare within Cosmos. With two high-value chains (Neutron and Stride) publicly precommitted to use ICS at launch, the feature promised high revenues for ATOM stakers and a path to sustainability for the Cosmos Hub and ATOM, as well as a way to reduce security costs for consumer chains. Despite the initial excitement, ICS struggled to find product market fit. Few additional chains expressed an interest in launching consumer chains on the Hub. The consumer chains that did launch failed to provide sufficient revenue to the Hub to offset the cost of validating them. Even after the launch of Partial Set Security (PSS) allowed for permissionless deployment and opt-in validation models, both validators and prospective consumer chains viewed the product as more of a burden than a benefit. Eventually, consumer…

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