At Cosmoverse Istanbul, 2023, the President of Interchain Foundation (ICF), Brian Crain spoke about the vision of the foundation as well as the achievements, adjustments and future plans of the organization for the Cosmos ecosystem including funding opportunities that will benefit the web3 space.
Cosmos is a decentralized network of independent, scalable, and interoperable blockchains that form the foundation for a new token economy.
The ecosystem is constructed using modular, adaptable, and interchangeable tools that actively encourage developer participation.
Often referred to as the “Internet of Blockchains,” the Cosmos ecosystem aims to address concerns surrounding scalability, usability, and interoperability. It organizes the Cosmoverse event and is governed by the ATOM token, which serves to secure the network.
The Cosmos Network is an Interchain Foundation-operated blockchain network architecture.
What Interchain Foundation stands for?
The Swiss-based Interchain Foundation is a legally registered entity in Switzerland, but doesn’t have traditional owners. Instead, it is guided by a broad mandate according to Brian.
The ICF’s mandate is to support the development of open and decentralized systems and software within the Cosmos Network.
He added that it’s important to note that Swiss foundations are subject to supervision by a governmental entity, ensuring that the foundation fulfills its mandate and uses its assets appropriately.
This regulatory framework provides transparency and accountability for similar organizations such as the Ethereum Foundation, the Web3 Foundation, Solana Foundation, and Cardano Foundation.
A Brief History
Diving deeper, he narrated the history of the organization saying that it was established in 2017, conducting the Atom fundraiser. During this fundraiser, contributors sent Bitcoin and Ethereum to an address controlled by the ICF, and a recommended Genesis distribution was subsequently published.
While this allowed participants to receive Atoms for their contributions, the Foundation also retained approximately 10% of the Atom supply.
He added that the funds collected during this fundraiser, along with the Bitcoin and Ethereum contributions, have been used to support the core development of the Cosmos ecosystem.
It’s important to recognize that while the ICF provides funding, most of the development work occurs in various organizations within the ecosystem, facilitated through grants from the ICF.
The current financial state
According to the president, as of the date of his presentation, the ICF’s assets total approximately $283 million. Particularly, over $100 million is in Atoms, around $85 million consists of other cryptocurrencies, primarily Bitcoin and Ethereum from the initial fundraiser, and another third is held in fiat currencies and government bonds.
Brian said that this financial stability allows the ICF to continue funding the development of the Cosmos stack for years to come.
Furthermore, he stated that while for 2023, its budget was estimated at nearly $60 million, due to market conditions, the budget for 2024 has been reduced to around $44 million.
While this adjustment is necessary, the financial strength of the ICF ensures a solid foundation for the future.
Future of Interchain Stack Roadmap
He also added that since the Cosmos ecosystem’s unique structure involves numerous teams developing core components, to better coordinate these efforts, the ICF has initiated the Interchain Stack Roadmap.
With this, all the teams in the ecosystem will outline their priorities and roadmaps, as the organization seeks to increase modularity, improve the developer experience, and address technical debt.
Towards the end of his talk, he said that the Cosmos community has put forward a proposal for the direct funding of teams developing the Cosmos Hub.
This proposal aims to have the Cosmos Hub community pool directly fund these teams’ development. This move aligns with the goal of creating a more decentralized and community-driven ecosystem.
