It’s time for the usual update from the Informal Systems’ Cosmos Hub team. Here are some of the highlights:
Coordinated the Cosmos Hub v19.2 emergency upgrade.
Completed the testnet and governance phases for Gaia v20.
Completed the implementation phase for Permissionless ICS.
Started working on the integration phase for Gaia v21.
Made significant progress towards the Hydro launch.
Note that we use CHIPs to track the progress of our work. Hence, throughout this update, we refer to different phases of the CHIPs framework.
In the first week of September, the Cosmos Hub underwent an emergency upgrade to fix a bug in the ICS provider module. The bug consisted of missing validation of the signer for some of the ICS messages — MsgOptIn, MsgOptOut, MsgAssignConsumerKey, and MsgSetConsumerCommissionRate. As a result, any user could have opted in, opted out, changed the commission rate, or changed what public key a validator uses on a Consumer Chain.
Together with Hypha and Amulet, we coordinated the upgrade to Gaia v19.2.0. Then, we published a security advisory describing the bug and the severity assessment. We thank the validator community for a successful upgrade.
In September, we completed the testnet and governance phases for Gaia v20, a release that will add the following features to the Cosmos Hub:
ICS with Inactive Validators (as per prop 930) enables validators from outside the Hub’s active set to validate on Consumer Chains. This feature brings the following benefits: it reduces the entry barrier for projects to launch as Consumer Chains since more validators will be allowed to opt in; it enables validators outside the Hub’s active set to compete by providing their services to interesting projects; and it reduces the risk of all the validators of a Consumer Chain opting out, which would require the chain to leave ICS.
Permissionless ICS (as per prop 945) enables users to launch opt-in Consumer Chains on the Cosmos Hub permissionlessly. Given that validators are free to choose whether they want to run a given opt-in Consumer Chain, it is only natural to also enable projects to launch as opt-in Consumer Chains by simply submitting transactions to the Cosmos Hub and, thus, avoiding the need to go through the process of governance.
Removal of Unbonding Pausing from ICS (as described by ADR 018) reduces the complexity of the ICS protocol. It removes the dependency between the liveness of undelegation operations on the Cosmos Hub and the liveness of consumer chains. See the section below for more details.
Bump CosmWasm/wasmd to v0.53.0 fixes two issues with the current CosmWasm deployment.
Bump IBC to v8.5.1.
The Cosmos Hub upgraded to v20 on October 2nd. We thank the Cosmos Hub community for participating in the forum discussion and voting on the software upgrade proposal.
Read more about what the Gaia v20 upgrade unlocks here.
In September, we released ICS v6.1.0, which contains the new ICS features in Gaia v20 — permissionless, inactive provider validators and removal of unbonding pausing. Besides finalizing the implementation and testing of all these features, we completed the following tasks to improve user experience.
We documented the API breaking changes introduced by Permissionless ICS.
We created a guide for integrators on how to use the Inactive Validators feature without affecting their applications.
We updated the ICS docs with a description of the existing ICS module.
We also coordinated and provided support to Zellic during their audit of the Permissionless ICS feature. Once it is finalized, we will publish the audit report.
We started the integration phase for Gaia v21, a release that will add the following improvements to ICS on the Cosmos Hub:
Enable Consumer Chains to use the memo field of the IBC transfer packets to tag ICS rewards with the consumer ID. As a result, Consumer Chains can send ICS rewards in any denomination and on any IBC channel. For example, Consumer Chains could send ICS rewards in native USDC from Noble to the Cosmos Hub.
Enable every opt-in Consumer Chain to add up to three denoms that will be accepted as ICS rewards without going through governance. This will make opt-in Consumer Chains truly permissionless.
We are targeting the Cosmos Hub v21 upgrade on October 30th.
Forge is a comprehensive front-end platform designed to streamline the deployment of new projects such as consumer chains. This initiative aims to dramatically simplify launching and managing Consumer Chains within the Cosmos ecosystem. We connected Forge to the Cosmos Hub testnet throughout the month and refactored the UI/UX.
Hydro is a bidding and governance platform for efficient deployment of liquidity across the Interchain and an essential part of the ATOM Wars strategy. Throughout the last month, we made significant progress towards the Hydro launch.
We made the Hydro backend code public. We completed testing the code using the Interchain testing framework and deployed the contract on Neutron for further testing in the final production environment. We also set up the required ICQ relayer infrastructure.
We got an internal review conducted by the audit team at Informal. The review found one high-impact issue around claiming tributes, which we have already fixed.
We added minor improvements to the Hydro contract to enable better front-end integration (e.g., extra queries). We also started the user testing for the Hydro frontend.
We set up the DAODAO deployment for the Hydro Committee and created documentation on how they can interact with Hydro. We are also working with the Hydro Committee to sketch out a monitoring plan around the security of the smart contract and the liquidity deployments.
We started coordinating with external teams to create new protocols, such as vote aggregators or hedging strategies around Hydro.
This month's developments further strengthen the Cosmos Hub's position as the best place to launch a chain:
Enhanced Security: Swift responses to vulnerabilities demonstrate our commitment to maintaining a secure and reliable network.
Streamlined Chain Deployment: Permissionless ICS and Forge lower entry barriers for new projects, fostering innovation within the ecosystem.
Expanded Participation: ICS with Inactive Validators broadens the validator base, improving decentralization and security.
Improved User Experience: Removing Unbonding Pausing from ICS simplifies operations and enhances reliability for ATOM holders.
Optimized Liquidity: Hydro's imminent launch will create a flexible mechanism for efficient liquidity deployment across the Interchain.
These advancements reinforce the Cosmos Hub's role as the premier platform for launching and managing blockchain projects. We're excited about these new capabilities and the continued growth they will bring to the ecosystem.