Summary:
- Evmos is an open-source, Cosmos-based blockchain that uses the Tendermint consensus, developed to bridge Ethereum tooling with the scalability of the Cosmos ecosystem.
- The Cosmos SDK is a Proof-of-Stake (PoS) development framework for launching Layer 1 blockchain networks. An SDK for developing L1’s is sometimes referred to as a “Layer-0”.
- The EVMOS token was airdropped to participants of the Cosmos ecosystem in May 2022. The current circulating supply is 200 million and the maximum supply is 1 billion.
Blockchain development is accelerating at a rapid rate. There are two types of blockchain layers in the crypto world: Layer-1’s (Bitcoin, Ethereum, etc) and layer-2s–coins built on these blockchains.
Launching a token is easy now, and layer-2 tokens can be deployed on Ethereum (ETH) within a second. But what happens when we want to build a layer-1 blockchain? This can cost millions of dollars and is highly difficult.
There is one ecosystem that aims to make this development easier: Cosmos. Developers who want to create their own L1 network use the Cosmos SDK (software development kit) to deploy their own native blockchain.
The Cosmos ecosystem is growing rapidly and creating tens of billions of dollars in value, but they’re limited in that they’re not compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) and can’t use tooling such as MetaMask. This is where Evmos comes in–Evmos is the project that unites Ethereum tooling with the Cosmos SDK. It is an open-source, scalable, and interoperable version of Ethereum.
The EVMOS token is trading at $2 with a market cap of $400 million and a circulating supply of 200 million.
What Is Evmos?
Evmos is a Layer 1 blockchain which is part of the Cosmos ecosystem. The idea is simple: Bring Ethereum DApps to the Cosmos ecosystem, and allow developers to create their own blockchains that are compatible with the EVM by forking Evmos.
The Cosmos ecosystem has generated tens of billions of dollars in the crypto industry as hundreds of popular projects use the SDK (software development kit) to produce their own layer-1 blockchains. This includes Cosmos (ATOM), Terra (LUNA), Polygon (MATIC), BSC (BNB), Cronos (CRO), Injective Protocol (INJ), Kadena (KDA) smart contracts, and many more.
Evmos is powered by Tendermint, a consensus engine that provides faster finality and lower transaction fees than Ethereum. It is compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine, which means all existing Ethereum DApps written in the Solidity programming language can be ported over.
Evmos’s ecosystem started growing promptly after the release of its mainnet. As Evmos supports NFTs, the first NFT marketplace called “Orbit” launched in May. Users on Orbit can trade NFTs without mandatory escrows, meaning their assets stay in their wallet while they’re listed.
In another use case, Kinesis was the first stablecoin exchange launched on Evmos. The team wanted to take advantage of the EVM compatibility and the Cosmos IBC communication system to enable seamless stablecoin trading.
Evmos also recently partnered with Flux Protocol, bringing the first decentralized oracles to the Evmos ecosystem. With the introduction of oracle services, developers will be able to create new DAPPs using automated smart contracts.
How Does Evmos Work?
Evmos is based on Proof-of-Stake (PoS), which means it uses validator staking to decentralize and secure the network. The consensus algorithm is based on Tendermint which is the standard consensus of the Cosmos SDK used by blockchains such as LUNA.
Despite being PoS, the blockchain is compatible with Ethereum and the Solidity programming language. This means it belongs to the league of “Ethereum killers” and can be compared to Avalanche (AVAX), Fantom (FTM), Near Protocol (NEAR), and others.
The difference is that Evmos is fully open-source and encourages developers to fork it and use it on their project. Evmos is currently one of the most-forked projects in the Cosmos ecosystem.
Evmos Top Features
EVM Compatibility
The Ethereum Virtual Machine is the computer behind Ethereum’s smart contracts. The EVM processes the Solidity code that allows smart contracts to run on top of the Ethereum blockchain, making it programmable. As Ethereum revolutionized smart contracts, EVM-compatible tools such as MetaMask became the industry standard.
However, if a Cosmos-based blockchain wants users to connect with a Web 3.0 wallet, they have to install Cosmos-only wallets. With Evmos, users can continue using their Ethereum tooling while simultaneously benefiting from the Tendermint consensus engine. Ethereum DApps such as Uniswap (UNI) and AAVE (AAVE) that are powered by Solidity smart contracts can be ported over to the Evmos ecosystem.
Using the Evmos faucet, developers can test their smart contracts on the Evmos testnet. This allows them to test the functionality of their DApps before deploying to mainnet.
Developer Framework
The primary function of Evmos, as with other Cosmos blockchains, is to provide the code for the development of other layer-1 networks. This code is open-source and available for free on Github. Using the Cosmos builder software “Ignite”, developers can fork Evmos and produce their own blockchain in seconds.
Evmos provides an alternative compared to standard Cosmos blockchains because of its EVM compatibility, which makes it easy to onboard crypto users such as DeFi and NFT traders who are used to Ethereum tooling.
Layer-1 blockchains built on Cosmos have to run their own validators and they are completely detached from other blockchains in the Cosmos ecosystem, unless they choose to connect to them using the IBC communication protocol.
Tendermint Consensus
Tendermint is a Proof-of-Stake, Byzantine-Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus engine. The Tendermint consensus was one of the first and safest PoS consensus mechanisms, developed by Jae Kwon in 2014. The company was initially known as “Tendermint” before the rebranding to Cosmos and was one of the first pioneers of PoS technology in blockchain.
Many projects that belong to the Cosmos ecosystem only use the Tendermint consensus – i.e. Kadena and Terra. The current version of Tendermint allows projects to scale vertically. Evmos started with 150 validators on the Tendermint consensus.
Tendermint also provides faster throughput and lower gas fees than Ethereum. On Evmos, the average transaction fee is less than $0.01 and the finality is under three seconds. The highest supported TPS is 10,000 on Evmos.
ABCI
The Application Blockchain Interface (ABCI) is a feature that allows EVM-based DApps to connect to the Tendermint consensus engine. For example, if we have an NFT marketplace such as OpenSea on Evmos, and we want to port it over to our blockchain, the ABCI interface sends API requests and responses to the DApps.
The NFT marketplace then sends a signal back to the blockchain which is immediately passed among the 150+ validators on the network and processed. Instead of using the PoW model on Ethereum, Evmos brings programmable smart contracts on PoS with higher scalability.
IBC
The “Inter-Blockchain Communication” protocol was developed by Cosmos to allow for communicating and porting over assets from different chains. For example, if we want to transfer value from EVMOS onto ATOM, we can do this easily using IBC.
Evmos is IBC compatible and there are bridges that allow users to transfer Ethereum and ERC-20 assets on the Evmos blockchain.
EVMOS Crypto Coin & Price History
The Evmos token is the native payment token of the Evmos ecosystem. Evmos was initially known as “Ethermint” on the Cosmos ecosystem, but it never had a token until May 2022 at the Evmos launch.
The Evmos coin snapshot was taken in November 2021 on the Ethereum blockchain and popular DApps such as Uniswap and others. The Evmos airdrop, or the “Rektdrop”, spread 200 million EVM coins among random addresses that lost money in scams and rugpulls over the past year.
The Evmos airdrop was aimed at helping the most affected in the crypto community by rewarding them with their new token launch. Shortly after launching, EVMOS generated a lot of hype and skyrocketed to $400 million market cap.
The current EVMOS price of $2 is a 2.5x decrease from its $4.5 all-time high shortly after launching. Evmos was unfortunate in the respect that it launched at the start of the Bitcoin bear market, and as the altcoin market declined so did the Evmos price.
As Evmos is a Proof-of-Stake platform, regular users can participate in Evmos staking using the “Disperze” platform, developed by the team itself. Disperze is compatible with the Cosmos Keplr and MetaMask wallets.
Evmos’ staking rewards vary based on the amount staked and the length of the stake. Out of the maximum supply of 1 billion EVMOS coins, 40% is allocated for staking rewards.
Conclusion
The Cosmos SDK is the premier Layer 1 blockchain development tool and the combined ecosystem has locked up billions of dollars in value. Evmos is currently one of the most well-known Cosmos blockchains for its ability to bridge the Cosmos consensus algorithm with the established Ethereum tooling. When the EVMOS token dropped in 2022, it took the crypto world by storm. It will be interesting to see how the Evmos project progresses, especially with the rapid pace of DApp development on the chain.
