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Cosmos

Introducing Neutron

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P2P is building Neutron, a permission-less zone featuring CosmWasm and full IBC capability (including Interchain Accounts and Queries) to host the Interchain’s infrastructure and DeFi protocols. Neutron is proposed to launch as a Consumer-Chain secured by the Cosmos Hub.

 

The vision of an ecosystem of the sovereign, interconnected blockchains is coming to life. As the technology underpinning Cosmos matures, adoption is picking up: a recent example, dYdX, a major Ethereum Perp-Trading protocol, announced it was moving to a custom App-Chain to provide better order book trading services to its users.

Not all protocols need the same degree of customization as dYdX does, though, and most would rather avoid the overhead associated with the construction of a generic zone. For these protocols, there needs to be a secure, well-connected CosmWasm hub where to deploy.

Currently, such a zone does not exist: no chain is as secure as the Cosmos Hub, and Proposal 69 showed the community’s preference for virtual machines to be released on Consumer-Chains, rather than the Hub itself.

Today, we are proud to announce we are making the Cosmonauts’ vision a reality: Introducing Neutron, a permission-less, Interchain-Secured CosmWasm smart-contracting environment for the Interchain.

 

What is Neutron?

Neutron is designed to be the premier venue for Interchain Smart-Contract deployment:

Built with the Cosmos SDK, Neutron features native support for CosmWasm, a virtual machine that allows smart contracts written in Rust, AssemblyScript and other coding languages to run on Cosmos blockchains. The resulting smart-contracts have significant benefits over the release of code into an Appchain’s binary: they benefit from a large library of testing tools, are easier to deploy and upgrade, and can be audited more efficiently.

To protect its ecosystem from the get go, Neutron would be secured by 175 validators and roughly 186M staked ATOM, worth $1.5Bn at the time of writing. This is made possible by a technology called Interchain Security, which lets validators from a Provider-Chain (e.g. the Cosmos Hub) produce blocks for a Consumer-Chain (e.g. Neutron). Node operators are rewarded with additional native tokens, but can be sanctioned if they fail to validate the Consumer-Chain. In a nutshell, Interchain Security would provide Neutron with the same degree of security as the Cosmos Hub, the 10th largest blockchain by value staked.

Neutron is Interchain-oriented: it supports the Inter-Blockchain Communication protocol (IBC), Interchain Accounts (ICA), as well as Interchain Queries (ICQ), at launch. Initially, Interchain Queries will be provided by a custom implementation developed by P2P, and upgraded to the official release once it is available. This allows any protocol deploying on Neutron to effortlessly communicate with the rest of IBC, and enables complex operations such as interchain liquid staking or cross-chain collateralization.

Last but not least, Neutron is permission-less: it is an open platform where anyone can deploy code to join the Interchain’s economy. Neutron is a neutral foundation on which anything can be built. It does not presume the worth of a project, and does not favor the interests of a protocol over that of another. Neutron is a public-good, owned by the community, by its users.

 

What is P2P?

P2P is a professional validator and a non-custodial staking provider which secures more than $1.5Bn in assets across the industry.

A long-term contributor to the Cosmos ecosystem, P2P has been securing the Cosmos Hub since genesis. It participated in the ATOM fundraiser and regularly open-sources its tooling.

At P2P, we have a strong conviction in the Interchain’s vision, which is why we help secure sixteen Cosmos networks, including Kava, Agoric, Evmos, Oasis and others.

P2P is an established player with valuable relationships across the DeFi industry: we see the need for a secure, permission-less, well-connected and reliable smart-contract platform. So, we built Neutron.

Over the coming weeks and months, we will be sharing more details about Neutron. The future of the Interchain is bright, let’s build it together: join the conversation over on the Cosmos Forum.

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