Cosmos Interchain Foundation Allocates $40M for Development Purposes

The Interchain Foundation (ICF), a nonprofit organization behind the Cosmos (ATOM) interblockchain communications (IBC) ecosystem, an ever-expanding platform of interconnected and sovereign blockchain services and apps, has announced to commit around $40 million in 2023 to build its basic infrastructure and applications, according to a Feb. 20 Medium post.

Notably, an interoperability mechanism called IBC (interblockchain communications) allows random data to be sent between arbitrary state machines. In addition, around 50 blockchains, including the Tendermint Core (and now CometBFT), Cosmos SDK, Cosmos Hub, and the IBC protocol, use the Interchain Stack. 

The announcement states, “Throughout the year, we envisage engaging other teams to deliver smaller, tightly defined tasks within each area of work. Such contracts will be to supplement the work of the teams mentioned below or in service of their needs that arise during the year.”

The organization claims that CosmWasm and Ethermint are the basis of smart contract and Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), compatible blockchains and the ICF is assisting in their growth. 

The post further states: 

“We have also supported the development of CosmWasm and Ethermint — technologies that are now forming the foundations of smart contract and EVM-compatible blockchains.”

ICF to Focus on the Adoption of Cosmos

The ICF will provide funding for initiatives that promote Cosmos’ adoption and use cases in addition to its basic infrastructure. Along with collaboration with other blockchain technologies like Polkadot and Hyper Ledger, these include initiatives like the Interchain Developer Academy, Cosmos Developer Portal, and Interchain Builders Program. 

The ICF also states that it intends to resume its publicly accessible Small Grants Program in 2023 after it was shut down due to a “significant backlog of applications” the previous year.

In the meantime, it encourages teams to contact the Builders Program for non-financial mentoring and support as it prepares to reopen the programme. The ICF advises developers to use its ATOM delegation programme in the interim to gain access to contribution incentives.