Marko Baricevic: Cosmos SDK - The Internet of Appchains

From the very beginning, Cosmos set out to provide an alternative to the monolithic blockchain architecture proposed by Ethereum. Cosmos SDK was the cornerstone of this vision, as it allowed developers to spin up blockchains effortlessly. Its modularity enabled custom, self-sovereign chains to become a reality. And, instead of being a jack of all trades, those chains were centred around a sole purpose, thus transforming them into appchains. In turn, as the ecosystem grew, appchains had to be interoperable with one another, but this was already a core feature of Cosmos, via IBC. Before Ethereum’s rollup-centric roadmap, appchains were thought to be a much-needed scaling solution. However, with the advancements of zero knowledge technology, the Cosmos SDK now faces another set of challenges as it navigates the market demand for L2 scaling solutions.

We were joined by Marko Baricevic, Cosmos SDK product lead, to discuss the development philosophy behind the Cosmos Hub and how appchains evolved over time.

Topics covered in this episode:

Marko’s backgroundCosmos SDK’s history and high-level overviewCosmos SDK modules and VMsEthereum’s & Cosmos’ development philosophiesCosmos SDK value prop and use casesCosmos SDK vs. other frameworks (e.g. Substrate)Token value accrual and the fragmentation dilemmaUsing the Cosmos SDK to build rollupsCosmos SDK vs. Avalanche’s HyperSDKAdoption of fraud proofs and validity proofs by the Cosmos SDK

Episode links:

Marko Baricevic on TwitterCosmos on TwitterCosmos SDK on TwitterInterchain Foundation on TwitterBinary Builders on Twitter

This episode is hosted by Meher Roy & Felix Lutsch. Show notes and listening options: epicenter.tv/510