We took some time to interview the Evmos team to get an inside scoop into what they have been working on and how they are breaking new ground in the Cosmosverse.
What is Evmos and what does it hope to accomplish for Web3?
Evmos is the leading Ethereum Virtual Machine-based blockchains in the Cosmos ecosystem and enables developers to launch apps that run interoperable smart contracts across any number of EVM and Cosmos-based blockchains. It makes that process as simple and seamless as possible by allowing developers to continue creating apps in Solidity and Vyper like they’re accustomed to in the Ethereum ecosystem. Evmos opens a new frontier for blockchain applications, expanding the functionality of the EVM by enabling cross-chain applications that tap the liquidity and user bases of multiple blockchain ecosystems to provide more unified experiences through interoperability, novel token economics and in-protocol incentives for users, developers and validators.
What are the differentiating features of Evmos and how does it differ from other projects with a similar mission?
Evmos is the premier platform for dApps to span the EVM and Cosmos ecosystems. Evmos is built by Federico Kunze Küllmer and the teams that created the Ethermint library, meaning it will always be powered by the most current version of this essential library for cross-ecosystem interoperability.
Evmos is designed to empower developers. Anyone who has built in an EVM environment can easily get started on Evmos using Solidity or Vyper like they’re accustomed to but now be building for a much larger audience that also includes the Interchain ecosystem. The Evmos team has even been working to implement precompiles that will enable developers to access Cosmos functionality such as staking and IBC transfers directly from their EVM contracts..
Additionally, a novel incentive implementation on Evmos repurposes the EIP-1559 fee split mechanism to reward dApp developers with 50% of transaction fees when users interact with their applications enables devs to have a reliable source of recurring revenue that scales with their projects. Evmos also helps developers attract users to their dApps with usage incentives that automatically distributes rewards to users when they interact with smart contracts that the Evmos community has voted to include in the program.
Evmos is a uniquely community-driven project. The initial distribution of Evmos at launch was primarily an airdrop of EVMOS tokens to both Ethereum and Cosmos users, and was designed in a way to maximize decentralization of distribution with whale caps, low barrier to entry, and a system for allocation that benefited smaller shareholders more. A full 2 million wallets are eligible for Evmos’ Rektdrop, a first-of-its-kind airdrop both to members of the Cosmos ecosystem and to Ethereum users on a proportional basis to the gas fees they spent using dApps on Ethereum.
Already in the few months since the chain launched, the Evmos community has organically funded several hackathons through governance in order to spur development on the platform, including the Evmos Momentum Hackathon in collaboration with Huobi and the Web3 Scholarship, HackAtom Seoul, and the upcoming #OneMillionWallets Hackathon in collaboration with Covalent.
For non-crypto natives, what does Evmos plan to bring to the user experience of crypto, and what will be its main applications?
Evmos has brought to life a new paradigm that sees dApps launched in one place that tap into the liquidity of multiple blockchain ecosystems. This is in stark contrast to the multichain vision that has seen dApps redeployed on many different blockchains, which can be confusing for users who encounter multiple versions of the same app, each of which has a separate pool of users and liquidity. In the Web2 world, you wouldn’t expect to encounter multiple versions of a banking app, for instance, each of which offers you different loan terms. The vision of Evmos is that the same should be true in Web3 and that this is, in fact, a critical advancement for decentralized applications to reach mainstream audiences.
Can you introduce your team to the readers? What relevant experience do they have and what projects have inspired them in their designs?
Evmos was founded by Federico Kunze Küllmer, Akash Khosla, and Nic Z, the same team that developed the Ethermint library. They’ve been heavily involved in the blockchain ecosystem for over 5 years and have extensive experience in product, consumer and institutional facing projects, research labs, graphic design, security, and open source.
Federico has been a core contributor in the Cosmos ecosystem since the early days, making key contributions to Tendermint, the Cosmos SDK, IBC, Gravity Bridge (formerly known as Peggy), and Sommelier and has been building in the blockchain space since 2017 when he was an exchange student (from Chile) at UC Berkeley, where he joined Blockchain at Berkeley, a organization which Akash Co-Founded.
Akash has been working on blockchain and cryptocurrencies since 2016 as a Software Engineer at Anchorage, Chain and Earn.com, in addition to contributing to open source projects like Interledger. Prior to this project, Akash had been working with the Cosmos ecosystem at Anchorage and as a Co-Founder of Blockchain at Berkeley, the blockchain innovation hub where many of the original Cosmos developers started their careers.
Nic is an early contributor to Evmos, a protocol designed to enable seamless interoperability between Ethereum and the IBC-enabled blockchains of the Cosmos ecosystem. He has previously done engineering work at Google and Facebook and began working on open source blockchain projects in 2017 while a student at UC Berkeley.
How did you achieve your funding requirements? Was it from an exclusive token sale or private funding? When was it?
One of the unique features that separates Evmos from other EVMs, let alone Ethereum, is its remarkable community. Unlike most other EVM chains, Evmos launched entirely as a community initiative without private funding. In April 2021, Cosmos Hub (ATOM) governance voted to pass Proposition 44, allowing the Hub’s community fund to fund Tharsis, a team led by Federico Kunze Küllmer, to develop Ethermint, a public good for the Interchain. Upon readying Ethermint for deployment, the Tharsis team next built and launched Evmos, thus bringing the Ethermint vision to life.
What parts of the Evmos roadmap is the team most excited for?
In the near-term future we’re very excited about integrating Interchain Accounts, a new capability that’s become available in the Interchain ecosystem. With Interchain Accounts, other IBC-enabled blockchains will be able to control accounts on Evmos. This will open the door for exciting integrations like DAOs on other chains using Gnosis Safe on Evmos or Interchain DeFi applications leveraging oracle solutions that are available on Evmos.
Down the road, we also plan to implement a shared security setup that will enable developers to continue scaling their applications as distinct Ethermint-enabled chains, while continuing to have the support of Evmos. Because bootstrapping a validator set remains one of the most difficult challenges facing would-be appchains, we’re excited to build out this functionality to give developers a smoother path to launching their own chains, where they can implement a variety of tailored customizations to improve their applications.
Where do you see Evmos in 5 years? What does it look like when Evmos is mass-adopted?
We envision Evmos growing as a central EVM interoperability hub that gives developers a one-stop platform to launch dApps that span multiple blockchain ecosystems in order to aggregate liquidity and offer users canonical applications for the optimal user experience. We further anticipate that the broader Ethereum and Interchain ecosystems will become increasingly intertwined with Evmos, tapping into the powerful applications and solutions on Evmos, especially via powerful composability mechanisms over IBC.
How does the Evmos architecture differ from other EVM compatible blockchains?
Evmos is built on Ethermint, an entirely new library that enables Tendermint-based blockchains to be fully EVM compatible. Ethermint acts as a kind of wrapper around Go Ethereum (Geth), the library used by nearly every other EVM platform, and opens up an exciting new design space of extensibility for EVMs. Already, many modular components of the Cosmos SDK can easily be added to Ethermint. For instance, this is how Evmos implements staking, and this is also how Interchain Accounts will be added. This is in contrast to purely Geth-based projects which are not built for interoperability and are far more difficult to extend for added functionality.
What is the primary use case of the Evmos token?
As the native token of Evmos, EVMOS serves several purposes, and we anticipate the community finding even more uses for it in the future. In addition to being used for staking to secure the network, for governance of the platform, and for transaction fees, the EVMOS token can also reward both developers and users through novel incentive mechanisms.
Why should users stake Evmos and what benefits should they expect outside of normal staking rewards?
Users who stake EVMOS tokens are an integral part of the Evmos community. As a reward for the vital security that their staking provides to the network, users are rewarded with 40% of the token’s inflation for the first four years of Evmos’ existence, with extended staking rewards subject to the community’s decision after that time. Users who stake EVMOS are able to vote in governance of the platform proportional to their stake, and because Evmos’s Rektdrop distributed tokens so widely, governance truly takes a village. As the Evmos ecosystem grows, we anticipate that EVMOS stakers may also be incentivized to deepen their participation in the community by receiving airdrops from new projects that launch.
How does Evmos plan to make smart contracts smarter, and what does it mean for the end-user?
Evmos is bringing cross-chain interoperability to smart contracts! Developers will be able to create dApps that abstract away the complexities of interacting with and controlling assets not just across multiple chains, but across disparate ecosystems. This important step will enable builders to create dApps that offer users a unified experience. For instance, applications will be able to tap into the liquidity of both the Ethereum and Interchain ecosystems without users needing to deal with converting ERC20 assets to IBC assets. And liquidity is just the tip of the iceberg. Tools and solutions only available in certain ecosystems can be brought together in unified dApp experiences, making these applications more powerful than has ever been possible.
Are there any exciting updates, announcements, or partnerships coming up in the immediate future that you can disclose today?
Our primary focus for the first couple months of mainnet has been focused on getting all the picks and shovels in place to support developers, including but not limited to indexers like Covalent and Kyve, Oracles like Flux, DIA, and Redstone, and custodial solutions like Gnosis Safe, Fireblocks, and Anchorage. Since the Nomad exploit at the beginning of August we have been spending a lot of time with projects and community members affected by the exploit and working with additional bridges to bring in liquidity. We have a lot more projects joining us in the coming months but don’t want to spoil any surprises yet.
Where is the best place for the community to interact with you?
The Evmos community is encouraged to check out Evmos.org and engage with us on Twitter @EvmosOrg, where we host weekly Community Calls to share the latest news in the ecosystem and invite anyone to participate by asking questions. We’re also on Telegram @EvmosOrg, Discord, and Medium at Evmos.Blog. Those interested in our code base can visit our GitHub or check out our documentation at Evmos.Dev. And last, but not least, we’re actively hiring at Thars.is
Why is Staking Rewards the best partner for your project?
We’re excited to partner with Staking Rewards to give private and institutional investors rich data and information on Evmos to better facilitate their involvement in our fast-growing ecosystem.
Conclusion
Evmos is bringing the world of Ethereum-based applications and assets to the interoperable networks of the Cosmos ecosystem, all while aligning developer and user incentives. Check out their asset profile to get real-time staking data!