As Thorchain continues its expansion, connecting to all major blockchains over time, ATOM is one of the next on the list for them to onboard.
As Thorchain marches onwards to its Mainnet, which is really a very minor change in the grand scheme of Thorchain, several new connections are coming soon. AVAX and ATOM are two that are at the front of the queue. The other exciting one which has been discussed and on the radar for a while, but may be getting closer to implementation is the privacy focused Haven (XHV), which definitely deserves more coverage, as it will add a whole new dimension to Thorchain.
But todays post will focus on ATOM.
Why ATOM.
ATOM is a significant layer 1 token, and the primary coin in what is loosely referred to as the Cosmos eco-system. The Cosmos works differently to most other crypto "eco-systems". When you think of many different Eco-systems, like Ethereum for example, the goal is lots of things built on the layer 1 base. Many apps, one chain is the best way to look at it. The Cosmos vision reverses that. The goal and approach in the Cosmos is many chains, all interconnected using a protocol called IBC (Inter Blockchain Communications). Here, creating a brand new, app specific blockchain is the norm, and then enabling IBC so it can talk to, and transfer value across to all the other IBC chains.
@melbourneswest just put out a great introductory post which is a good place to start learning how the Cosmos ecosystem works. Another reference to learn more about the Cosmos, is the in-depth guide produced last year by the @crypto-guides project run by @forexbrokr.
The key thing about ATOM being added to Thorchain is that most of the work for it had already been done. The Terra chain had been onboarded to Thorchain, not all that long before everything went south there. Terra was a Cosmos SDK based chain, so the framework was very similar to ATOM. With the hard work done of developing the connections to Terra, linking ATOM is a very similar process.
Thorchain own chain is also built on the Cosmos SDK, so the team have a good familiarity with the basic architecture, and linking to ATOM is really a no-brainer in that regard.
Significant eco-system.
Thorchain's goals are to connect to all the major, economically significant crypto layer 1's. ATOM is a very obvious choice in this regard. Despite the recent market downturn, ATOM is still up around the top 30 by market cap (actually 31 at the time of this post, but near enough). ATOM is a very widely available crypto, having listings on nearly every Cex.
More important than that, as I see it, is that having a direct link to ATOM means there is an indirect link to a multitude of other projects in the broader Cosmos ecosystem. I think it is only a matter of time before some of the Cosmos DeFi projects (like Osmosis for example), use the ATOM link to Thorchain to expand their own offerings, and integrate Thorchain into their customer offering.
ATOM is a major token, with significant liquidity available on Dex's like Osmosis. Facilitating a UI that allows simple swaps from any Cosmos token, like Akash (AKT) as an example, to any other token (like BTC) in one action will be a breakthrough for the broader Cosmos eco-system. DeFi in the Cosmos is catching up to the EVM style chains, and an integrated UI with ATOM as the go-between makes so much sense.
On the back end, a UI like I envisage above would look like as follows. (for this example I'll look at a 100% decentralized swap of native BTC to AKT)
- User connects BTC wallet to the UI.
- Enter target address for AKT output.
- Initiate trade. Everything from here happens behind the scenes.
- BTC (native) swapped to RUNE. (on Thorchain)
- RUNE swapped to ATOM. (on Thorchain)
- ATOM swapped to AKT. (on Osmosis)
- AKT sent to native wallet. (via IBC).
This gives a much larger appeal to the many IBC enables projects, to attract fresh capital that may be interested. Many of these smaller Cosmos chains have few (if any) Cex listings. Down the track, an Osmosis (or one of the alternative Cosmos DeFi options) will give decentralized access to a huge portion of the Crypto-economy. It won't be necessary for all these tokens to pursue a Thorchain listing, aggregators and apps like Link these projects to Thorchain, all via ATOM.
Conclusion.
ATOM being added to Thorchain is a big deal for both projects. The connection will lead to many more projects getting access to significant liquidity across the crypto-verse, and give Thorchain a linkage to a fast growing, interconnected eco-system of chains. It is the very definition of a win-win, for all sides.
With most of my assets in Cosmos related projects, I'm excited about the Thorchain addition and can't wait to have a play with it and get back into Thorchain in a meaningful way after having drifted away from it for quite a while.
Let me know what you think in the comments below.
Cheers,
JK.
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