About Cosmos

In 2014, Jae Kwon observed that the safety-favoring nature of classical Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus algorithms would allow us to use Proof of Stake (PoS) for Sybil resistance in a public blockchain context without the need for external sources of pseudorandomness. In 2015, he was joined by Ethan Buchman to build a future where there are as many blockchains as there are web apps today.

In order to prove that we could have a secure, BFT system running on Proof-of-Stake, we needed to test the theory out on a public, decentralized blockchain. That blockchain is the Cosmos Hub.

The core motivation fueling this launch is the desire to provide infrastructure for a scalable public blockchain network. The Cosmos vision is to enable communication and connectivity among thousands of cryptocurrency systems, allowing the network to scale without utilizing Proof-of-Work.

To make this vision a reality, Tendermint Core was developed as a BFT consensus engine that could be used as the first layer for any PoS blockchain.

The vision also required a framework to significantly lower the barrier to entry for developing decentralized applications. Similar to how web frameworks such as Ruby on Rails or Django brought about a Cambrian explosion of web applications, the Cosmos SDK was created to make blockchain development easy and catalyze the explosion of blockchain applications.

Nearly five years since the creation of Tendermint Core, the dream of creating an Internet of Blockchains powered by BFT Proof-of-Stake has become a reality. Here’s a look back at a brief history of the development progress which set the gears in motion toward our journey to the Cosmos.