Layer 1 blockchain
Cosmos Hub ticker ATOM
Summary
Sovereign proof-of-stake chain (mainnet chain ID cosmoshub-4) running the Gaia application on the Cosmos SDK with CometBFT consensus. ATOM holders delegate to validators; bonded stake secures consensus and is subject to unbonding and slashing. A block commits once validators holding more than 2/3 of voting power precommit it, assuming less than 1/3 is byzantine. On-chain parameters read 2026-09-27: at most 180 active validators, 21-day unbonding, 5% slash for double-signing and 0.01% for downtime. Since the Gaia v28.0.0 upgrade (governance proposal 1052, passed 2026-09-01) the Hub no longer provides Interchain Security to consumer chains. 12569161718
Design
- System
- Layer 1 blockchain
- Settlement family
- Cosmos SDK
- Scarce resource
- Stake (proof of stake)
- State model
- Accounts
- Finality
- Economic finality
- Who makes blocks
- Validators selected round-robin in proportion to voting power, per the CometBFT consensus specification.
- Fork choice
- No fork choice in the Nakamoto sense: a height is decided by +2/3 precommits. Two conflicting commits would require at least 1/3 of the validator set to double-sign, which is attributable.
Qualifications
- Ibc · Applies. IBC is interchain messaging between independently governed chains, verified by on-chain light clients; it is not a rollup and does not make counterparties Hub L2s. It is recorded in the bridge row of this profile.
- Shared security · Not applicable. The Hub stopped providing Interchain Security at the Gaia v28.0.0 upgrade, which removed the provider module. Governance proposal 1052 passed on 2026-09-01 with an upgrade height of 32,785,900; the chain has passed that height and the chain registry now recommends Gaia v28.0.0.
- Tps · Unknown. No sourced, classed throughput measurement for the Hub was found. CometBFT's own README states an engine-level speed figure, which is not a Cosmos Hub measurement and is not used here.
Tradeoffs
- Emphasizes
- Security and Decentralization
- Gives up
- Single-chain throughput and liveness under large outages: the Hub is one application chain, horizontal scaling relies on separate chains linked by IBC, and blocks cannot commit if more than 1/3 of voting power is unavailable.Decentralization here means full nodes are practical to run; consensus participation is limited to the active validator set, which the on-chain staking parameters cap at 180 validators (read 2026-09-27; governance can change it). The liveness point is inferred from the +2/3 precommit rule.
- Full node at home
- Practical at home 7The Hub's join-mainnet guide lists 16GB RAM and 2TB storage for a full node; archive state exceeds 1.4TB, and pruning or state sync reduces storage (listed snapshots: about 540GB default, 265GB pruned).
- Throughput claims
- No classified figure recorded
Scaling layers
No scaling layer recorded in this profile.
Capabilities
| Capability | How it is provided | Notes and sources |
|---|---|---|
| Account abstraction | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Atomic swaps | Unknown | A trust-minimized swap mechanism on the Hub was not reviewed. IBC token transfers are not atomic swaps. |
| Authenticated data publication | Unknown | Not yet assessed under this row's current definition. |
| Light clients | Built into the protocolLimited scope | CometBFT consensus produces the validator-signed commits that IBC light clients check. IBC relies on on-chain light clients that verify counterparty consensus evidence; relayers carry proofs but do not replace verification. For the IBC Eureka route the Hub runs an Ethereum light client as a CosmWasm (08-wasm) contract. Limited: this light verification serves IBC, where counterparty chains' on-chain light clients check the Hub's commits; no user-facing light client for Cosmos Hub itself was reviewed. 32021 |
| Native staking or delegation | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| On-chain governance | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Parallel execution | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Payment or state channels | Unknown | No payment or state channel layer anchored to the Hub was reviewed. IBC channels are messaging paths, not payment channels. 3 |
| Programmable spending | Native (protocol or core-team software) Earlier definition | Gaia includes CosmWasm; v27.6.0 raised the maximum contract size and allowlisted some queries for contracts. On-chain parameters read 2026-09-27 let anyone upload and instantiate contracts; governance can change this. 2819 |
| Protocol-verified messaging | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Reversible transfers or recovery | Unknown | Not yet assessed under this row's current definition. |
| Rollups | Unknown | The review did not verify absence, so the rule that absence needs a source makes this unknown rather than not present. Earlier finding: no rollup settling to the Hub was found in reviewed sources. IBC-connected chains are separate sovereign chains, not rollups. 3 |
| Shielded transfers | Structured assessment pending | Not yet assessed for any chain. |
| Signed partial offers | Unknown | Not yet assessed under this row's current definition. |
Reading these values
- How this feature is provided
- Built into the protocol, core-team software or independent software says where a feature lives and who can change it. These are implementation layers, not quality: core-team software is not closer to the protocol than independent software.
- Structured assessment pending
- The shared review has not assessed this feature for any chain yet (Account abstraction, Native staking or delegation, On-chain governance, Parallel execution, Protocol-verified messaging and Shielded transfers). That does not mean it is absent, and a chain’s profile may already describe it.
- Unknown
- The review has not established this for this chain under the current definition; the note beside it says why. Unknown is not absent and not a low score. A feature reads “Not present” only when a source shows it is absent.
- Earlier definition
- Payment or state channels, Programmable spending and Rollups keep the earlier definition until the next fact-check. There, “Native” does not separate the protocol from core-team software, “Ecosystem software” does not say who publishes it, and “Partial” does not say which layer.
- Reading across rows
- The list of capabilities is incomplete. Do not read these rows as a chain leading or lagging overall.
Ecosystem & custody
| Product type | Status | Notes and sources |
|---|---|---|
| Automated market makers | Unknown | No Hub-local AMM venue was verified. Swaps reached over IBC on other chains are not Hub venues. |
| Issuer-native stablecoins | Unknown | The review did not verify absence: anyone can upload contracts on the Hub, and contract-issued (CW20) stablecoins there were not exhaustively reviewed, so the rule that absence needs a source makes this unknown rather than not present. Earlier finding: Circle's USDC list names Noble, Injective and Sei among Cosmos-family chains, not the Cosmos Hub; USDC held on the Hub is an IBC voucher from its issuing chain, not Hub-native issuance. 31219 |
| Algorithmic stablecoins | Unknown | Algorithmic or hybrid stablecoins on the Hub were not reviewed. |
| Bridges | Native to the protocolIBC (ibc-go), IBC Eureka (IBC v2) to Ethereum | Destinations: IBC-enabled Cosmos SDK chains over classic IBC, through clients, connections and channels; and Ethereum over IBC Eureka (IBC v2), with the Hub as the routing chain that other Cosmos chains reach through a classic IBC connection. ICS-20 defines token transfers with denomination traces. Circle CCTP does not list the Hub. Risk: Classic IBC depends on each counterparty chain's consensus, correct client implementation and configuration, timely client updates and application behaviour; a voucher is only as sound as its origin chain and path. The Ethereum route also depends on the Ethereum light-client contract (08-wasm) on the Hub, on sound Succinct SP1 proofs and Hub light-client contracts on Ethereum, and on permissioned relayers run through Skip:Go, which currently gate liveness. 3413202122 |
| Block explorers | Established in the ecosystemMintscan, Numia, ATOMScan, Ping.Pub, BronBro | The Hub documentation links these explorers. Listing is not a quality or completeness check; explorer data is provider-indexed. 111 |
| Hardware wallets | Established in the ecosystemLedger | See the custody section: Ledger supports Hub accounts and staking in Ledger Wallet; Trezor does not support the Hub in Trezor Suite. 1415 |
Hardware-wallet custody
| Device maker | Status | What users can and cannot do |
|---|---|---|
| Ledger | Native supportSame as native: Yes | Can: Send and receive ATOM in Ledger Wallet Can: Delegate ATOM to validators from Ledger Wallet 14 |
| Trezor | None foundSame as native: No | Cannot: Manage Cosmos Hub accounts in Trezor Suite Cannot: Treat ATOM token representations on other networks as Hub custodyTrezor's page lists ATOM only on other networks (BNB Smart Chain, Evmos, Kava, Canto), not native cosmoshub-4 accounts; absence of third-party signing paths was not exhaustively verified. 15 |
Public data
Your AI can request these lookups through the connection. The website itself runs no lookups. Networks: mainnet.
| Lookup | Status | What it covers and its limits |
|---|---|---|
| Address or account | Available | uatom bank balance after cosmoshub-4 identity check |
| Tokens and assets | Available | paginated Cosmos SDK bank denominations with bounded IBC trace evidence |
| NFTs | Not available yet | none |
| Transactions | Available | CometBFT indexed transaction execution result |
Sourced developments
Developments: Review overdue Reviewed Sep 26, 2026; next review was due Oct 6, 2026, 07:36 UTC.
Publication date · newest first
-
Gaia v28.0.0 released
Gaia v28.0.0 removed the Interchain Security provider module and included an upgrade-handler parameter migration. The earlier Hub Unit notice described a public-testnet soak and a future mainnet software-upgrade proposal, so the binary release is not presented as Hub activation.
- Release:Released
- Activation:mainnet activation not established; governance proposal and upgrade height require separate evidence
Sources: cosmos/gaia maintainers — Gaia v28.0.0 release notes (external site) · Cosmos Hub Unit — Advance notice: Gaia v28.0.0 ICS provider module removal (external site)
-
ICF published its Q3 2026 ATOM delegation selections
The Interchain Foundation published the Q3 adjustment for its ATOM delegation program, including selected validators, ecosystem-growth recipients, and updated qualification criteria. This is a foundation delegation program, not Cosmos Hub consensus or a protocol activation.
- Release:published program update
- Activation:not a Cosmos Hub protocol activation
Sources: Interchain Foundation — ICF Delegation Program: Q3 Selected Validators (external site) · Interchain Foundation — Interchain Foundation Medium RSS (external site)
-
Gaia v27.6.0 released
Gaia v27.6.0 increased the maximum CosmWasm contract size, allowlisted selected governance and staking gRPC queries for CosmWasm, and updated wasmd/wasmvm dependencies.
- Release:Released
- Activation:not inferred from release alone
Source: cosmos/gaia maintainers — Gaia v27.6.0 release notes (external site)
-
ibc-go v11.2.0 released
ibc-go v11.2.0 added rate-limiting middleware with configurable per-channel and per-denomination quotas for IBC v1 and v2.
- Release:Released
- Activation:chain adoption not inferred
Source: cosmos/ibc-go maintainers — ibc-go v11.2.0 release notes (external site)
-
ICF published its June 2026 treasury snapshot
The Interchain Foundation published a treasury snapshot reporting its fiat and cryptocurrency holdings as of June 30, 2026. This is foundation transparency reporting, not Cosmos Hub chain state, consensus, or governance execution.
- Release:published transparency report
- Activation:not a Cosmos Hub protocol activation
Sources: Interchain Foundation — ICF Treasury Snapshot: June 2026 (external site) · Interchain Foundation — Interchain Foundation Medium RSS (external site)
-
Gaia v27.5.0 released
Gaia v27.5.0 updated its ibc-go dependency from v10.6.0 to v10.7.0.
- Release:Released
- Activation:not inferred from release alone
Source: cosmos/gaia maintainers — Gaia v27.5.0 release notes (external site)
Topics your AI can explain
Your AI can explain these topics for Cosmos Hub through the connection, with sources.
Known gaps
What this profile's review did not establish:
- Validator cap, unbonding and slashing values are on-chain parameters read on 2026-09-27; governance can change them.
- No Hub-local AMM, atomic-swap mechanism, reversible-transfer or recovery feature, or algorithmic stablecoin was reviewed.
- No rollup or channel layer anchored to the Hub was verified; this profile lists no scaling layers, and IBC is recorded as bridge support rather than as a scaling layer.
- Third-party Trezor signing paths for cosmoshub-4 were not exhaustively checked.
- No sourced, classed throughput measurement for the Hub was found.
- Contract-issued (CW20) stablecoins on the Hub were not exhaustively reviewed. Press reports from May 2026 that the Hub adopted Injective-issued USDC as its main USDC route were not checked against a primary source.
- The Eureka documentation describes permissioned relayers for the initial rollout; whether that permissioning has since been removed was not verified.
- How few validators together hold more than a third of voting power was not measured in this review; the decentralization emphasis rests on node requirements and the 180-validator cap, not on a measured stake distribution, and should be re-checked against that figure.
Sources
Oldest dated source check: Source checked Sep 27, 2026 Next check due Oct 27, 2026.
- Cosmos Hub documentation (external site)
- Cosmos Hub chain registry record (external site)
- IBC overview (external site)
- ibc-go repository (external site)
- CometBFT repository (external site)
- Byzantine Consensus Algorithm (external site)
- Joining Mainnet (external site)
- Gaia v27.6.0 release notes (external site)
- Gaia v28.0.0 release notes (external site)
- Advance notice: Gaia v28.0.0 ICS provider module removal (external site)
- Mintscan Cosmos Hub explorer (external site)
- USDC contract addresses (external site)
- CCTP supported blockchains (external site)
- Cosmos Hub wallet (external site)
- Cosmos Hub wallet (external site)
- Cosmos Hub governance proposal 1052: Gaia v28.0.0 Upgrade (on-chain record) (external site)
- Cosmos Hub staking module parameters (on-chain query) (external site)
- Cosmos Hub slashing module parameters (on-chain query) (external site)
- Cosmos Hub CosmWasm code upload and instantiate parameters (on-chain query) (external site)
- Cosmos Hub registered 08-wasm light-client code checksums (on-chain query) (external site)
- IBC Eureka Technical Product Walkthrough (external site)
- IBC Eureka technical overview (external site)
Report an error
Found something wrong or out of date? Reporting is free, and every chain goes through the same process. Published corrections appear in the public log.
Funding disclosure
Funding disclosures appear here when an upkeep arrangement exists, in the form “Upkeep funded by [name]; verdicts unaffected.” The funder ledger has not been published yet. Neutrality & funding