Informal Systems is excited to announce a partnership with Cephalopod Equipment Corp, a Toronto-based company operating infrastructure for decentralized intelligence.

Both Informal and Cephalopod believe in the power of blockchain technologies to create more sustainable and democratic economies that help pave the way for new forms of economic coordination.  Both have been focused, in particular, on the Cosmos Network of blockchains, with Cephalopod validating on the Cosmos Hub since its inception in 2019, and Informal being a major contributor to Cosmos research and development since 2020.

This partnership will enable Cephalopod to accelerate its mission of supporting participant-owned networks by leveraging expertise from Informal to provide infrastructure and validation services to a growing number of blockchains.

Informal is committed to advancing the research and development of distributed systems, providing confidence in protocols and implementations, and building technologies that are adopted by many different communities. To achieve these goals, Informal is currently focused on IBC protocol security and implementation in Rust, including the newly released Hermes relayer for Cosmos blockchains.

Cephalopod will integrate into Informal Systems' product and service offering, enabling Informal to vertically integrate its research, development, and operations expertise to play a leading role in the emerging Internet of Blockchains.  Cephalopod's initial focus will be validating on Cosmos chains that are preparing to launch and running the Hermes relayer across chains as they enable IBC.

Cephalopod was founded in 2019 by Ethan Buchman, Arianne Flemming, and Greg Szabo as a Proof of Stake validator serving the Cosmos Network.  It was a participant in the Cosmos Hub's gentx ceremony and has remained an active validator and governance participant on the Cosmos Hub since. Cephalopod is also a founding member of the StarkEx Data Availability Committee, overseeing the data of Starkware-powered services such as the DeversiFi DEX.

Mircea Colonescu recently joined Informal as an Infrastructure Engineer to help Cephalopod scale its operations and participate in more networks within the Cosmos ecosystem and beyond. Mircea has many years of experience designing and implementing infrastructure solutions, including for the Cosmos Network at Tendermint Inc,  as well as for the Canada Pension Plan and WorkMarket.

Cephalopod will continue to operate as an independent entity under the leadership of Ethan, Arianne and Greg.

This partnership represents an important step in ushering in a new era of economic coordination by supporting the development and implementation of correct and reliable software that serves communities by operating reliable decentralized infrastructure.

You can delegate with Cephalopod here.

For any questions please reach out validator@informal.systems. Stay up to date with Cephalopod on twitter.

By delegating with Cephalopod you agree to the Terms of Service.