Introducing Stargate, the next major Cosmos upgrade

Yesterday the Cosmos team and professional validator Figment Networks shared details on Stargate, the next major Cosmos network upgrade. Stargate will introduce the most extensive set of Cosmos changes to date, including new interoperability features and various performance improvements.

The headliner is the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol. The long-awaited interoperability standard will enable the exchange of cryptoassets and data across other Tendermint-based chains. Communication can also extend to non-Tendmint chains, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, through Peg-Zones.

While IBC steals the show, Stargate includes several performance and user-experience upgrades:

• Protobuf Migration aims to increase transaction throughput and lower gas costs by increasing block capacity. It also introduces a composability standard.
• State Sync will shorten the time it takes to sync a Cosmos node
• Full-featured light clients will also help accelerate full node sync times (more details to come from the Interchain GmbH team)
• Chain upgrade module will aim to increase the efficiency of network upgrades

Cosmos anticipates the first Stargate testnet to launch on July 27. A mainnet release should come later this year.

Why it matters:

• IBC will bring the Cosmos network to life. Since its launch, the Cosmos Hub and all Tendermint-based chains have remained siloed, with little benefit to offer over similar chains. IBC should, in theory, unlock the potential of each Cosmos zone and hub.
• Part of the thesis behind Cosmos’ design is that there will be multiple relevant blockchains in the future. At the moment, user activity on blockchains has centered around just two networks: Bitcoin and Ethereum. But the data points to multi-point, one that could include the need for application-specific chains. Cosmos and the recently launched Polkadot could be potential settlement-layers for companies and projects that see blockchains as a high-value tool for their products.