Decentralization, permissionless computing, and trustless systems are keystone to the global cryptocurrency movement. In the same vein, those core tenets are keystone to Tendermint Inc’s (as in, All in Bits) organizational policy. Adopting such policy paves the way towards resilient, redundant, and more productive ecosystems as the network evolves into an Interchain. To better enable the Cosmos Network to proliferate and make progress without risk of running into bottlenecks (halting), we at Tendermint Inc must necessarily undergo needed restructuring. The following update outlines the high-level details of what will be restructured:

A Refocus on Engineering

Because we recognize the extraordinary talent of the protocol engineers and researchers at Tendermint Inc, autonomy and free agency will serve to empower them to continue to ship and improve the infrastructure that powers Cosmos. To this aim, Tendermint Inc will part ways with its IBC and Tendermint Core teams as they start a new, independent Berlin-based GmbH, with the support and sponsorship from the Interchain Foundation (ICF).

What does this mean for IBC?

We’re incredibly proud of what our engineers have accomplished in the past year in specifying, prototyping, and implementing IBC.

Christopher Goes and his work as the lead IBC researcher and spec deployer has been an invaluable contributor to the Cosmos ecosystem. We want to thank Federico Kunze for his work as one of the core implementers of the IBC protocol, Callum Waters for his work on the relayer algorithm, and Joon who contributed to the first MVP of IBC as well as to the the Interchain Standards.

It is with bittersweetness to say that this team will be parting ways with Tendermint Inc to work on IBC under the new GmbH entity.

We’re looking forward to seeing this engineering-focused team deliver the IBC implementation and we are more than excited to support them in launching it on the Cosmos Hub. We will continue to coordinate with the new team and communicate updates to the greater Cosmos community.

What does this mean for Tendermint Core?

Tendermint Core is the realization of a vision that Jae Kwon had in 2014. By the time Tendermint Inc hired its 4th employee, a soft-spoken p2p engineer from Russia, Tendermint Core hit the ground running on its way to becoming the gold standard of Proof-of-Stake. It is with bittersweetness to say goodbye to the unsung hero of Tendermint Core, Anton Kaliaev, who, along with Tess Rinearson and Erik Grinaker, who will continue to maintain Tendermint Core under the new GmbH entity.

Other longstanding Tendermint Inc employees who have been core contributors to the ecosystem who will be operating under the newly established GmbH entity include: billy rennekamp, developer relations extraordinaire and our “human peg” to the Ethereum ecosystem and Anna Harbaum, German logistics & accounting maestro.