Get an inside scoop into Osmosis’s latest developments and how they’re expanding beyond the Cosmoverse.
What is Osmosis and what does it hope to accomplish for Web3?
Osmosis is the premier cross-chain DeFi hub. As the liquidity center and primary trading venue of Cosmos – the 50+ sovereign Layer 1s connected with the Inter-Blockchain Communication protocol (IBC) – it is the gateway to the interchain.
What are the differentiating features of Osmosis and how does it differ from other projects with a similar mission?
Users are able to swap over one hundred different tokens across blockchains such as Ethereum, Avalanche, Fantom, Polkadot, and Polygon. Users can also deposit tokens within our liquidity pools to earn protocol fees and token incentives. The launch of our stable swap pools introduced the ability for liquidity providers to earn fees on stable asset pairs such as USDC, USDT, as well as liquid staked asset pairs.
For non-crypto natives, what does Osmosis plan to bring to the user experience of crypto, and what will be its main applications?
Osmosis has one of the easiest onboarding experiences within Crypto. It focuses on bringing seamless integration by providing easy onramps and offramps through Kado Money and Transact integrations. Additionally, it is integrated within various wallets to make transacting easy, some which include Keplr Wallet, Cosmostation, Leap wallet, and many more.
What parts of the Osmosis roadmap is the team most excited for?
Supercharged Liquidity, Threshold Decryption, Cosmoswaps.
What are the biggest challenges that Osmosis currently faces, and how is the team addressing them?
The Osmosis team has plenty of ideas and exciting products to build, but has formerly been constrained by bandwidth. We are actively hiring and ensuring we have the team to rapidly build out all the exciting features to come.
In your opinion, where do you see Osmosis in 5 years and how will it look when it becomes widely adopted?
In 5 years, we see Osmosis continuing its trend as the DeFi center of the Cosmos Ecosystem. But, with the new technologies that are quickly emerging, we also expect this to expand beyond the Cosmos quite soon.
What is the primary purpose of the Osmosis token and why should users stake it on Osmosis?
The OSMO token is a governance token that allows staked token holders to decide the future of the protocol, including every implementation detail. OSMO will initially be used for the following (although governance is free to add or remove these functions):
- Voting on protocol upgrades
- Allocating liquidity mining rewards for bonded liquidity gauges
- Setting the base network swap fee
Apart from normal staking rewards, what other benefits can users expect from staking Osmosis on Osmosis?
The ability to participate in on-chain governance, Osmosis is one of the most active communities within Cosmos. Users are able to decide the future upgrades, vote to enable smart contract integrations and incentive allocations for liquidity providers.
What is the process for becoming a validator on Osmosis, and what requirements are necessary to participate in staking?
Joining the active set by having sufficient delegations to a node, you can see the validator rankings here.
Osmosis recently implemented their V14 and V15 upgrades, walk us through why this was done and what changes it brings.
The V14 Upgrade:
- Geometric TWAP: This allows Osmosis liquidity pools to expose both arithmetic and geometric pricing mechanisms. This makes the protocol pricing far superior and less susceptible to manipulation.
- Downtime Detection Module: Allows for Protocols dependent on Osmosis pricing data to be able to prevent liveness failures, should Osmosis be recovering from downtime.
- IBC v4.2.0 Upgrade and Wasm Hooks: Unlocks the ability to make cross chain wasm hooks reusable.
The V15 upgrade:
- ProtoRev Module implementation: Allowed for the implementation of the ProtoRev module, a novel mechanism that aims to capture on-chain Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) and convert it to revenue for the Osmosis chain
- Protocol-Level Minimum Gas Price: Set a minimum gas price of 0.0025 uOSMO at the protocol-level
- Setting IBC Rate Limits: The V13 Upgrade brought with it rate limits, the V15 Upgrade set forth specific rates per asset as voted by the community.
- Validator-Set Preference Module: The module allows for staking of OSMO to multiple, user-selected validators using a single transaction, making it far easier to diversify your staked OSMO.
Are there any exciting updates, announcements, or partnerships coming up in the immediate future that you can disclose today?
The second Osmocon will be taking place Jul 21, 2023 in Paris, France which will host a variety of speakers from within the Osmosis Ecosystem and beyond.
Where is the best place for the community to interact with you?
There are a few avenues for the community to interact with the team.