This is Part 2 of this Cosmos Beginners Guide. In Part 1 we covered four popular questions about Cosmos. In Part 2 we cover another four questions. So, without further ado, let’s dig in to Cosmos. ⚛️Most Active Zones in @cosmosibc Networks Last 24H 🚀 🥇 $OSMO @osmosiszone...
This is Part 2 of this Cosmos Beginners Guide. In Part 1 we covered four popular questions about Cosmos. In Part 2 we cover another four questions.
So, without further ado, let’s dig in to Cosmos.
$OSMO @osmosiszone$STRD @stride_zone$ATOM @cosmoshub$AXL @axelarcore$INJ @Injective_$SCRT @SecretNetwork$KUJI @TeamKujira$BLD @agoric$CRE @CrescentHub#CroFam @cryptocom#IBCGang #Cosmonauts@MapOfZones pic.twitter.com/pwUWuiZDlU— Cosmos Daily(@CosmosATOMDaily) April 29, 2023
How to Stake ATOM?
With a 20% APR, it’s well worth staking your ATOM. There are a few different ways how you can stake your ATOM. For example:
- You can stake on a centralized exchange. This is custodial, and you don’t control your tokens.
- Stake straight from your Cosmos compatible wallets. For instance, Keplr or Leap, allow you to do this. However, when using wallets, the safest way is to use a hardware wallet, like Ledger or SafePal.
- Liquid staking. This is a centralized form of staking. You hand your ATOM tokens over to a company that stakes it on your behalf. However, you receive a liquid token in return. You can trade with this token. Liquid staking happens by means of liquid staking pools.
- At last, you can also become a validator. More on this later.
So, as you can see, you have a variety of options at your disposal. Choose the option that you are most comfortable with. Each option has some pros and cons, so find the right balance. The video below shows you how you can stake ATOM when using a Ledger hardware wallet.
Cosmos Domain Review
Domain name services are a staple on blockchains. A typical crypto wallet address is a long string of numbers and letters. These are difficult to remember. A typical Cosmos address may look like this; bostrom1fc0sx45lgkh0hw5rsyqjssl4jhs7yvjse66f68.
- Cosmos Naming Service
There’s been a lot of talk of name services on Cosmos. Jack Zampolin, the Product Manager at Cosmos/Tendermint, talked about this. He made a technical video of this. However, there’s no service yet by this name.
2. ICNS
- .juno
- .cosmos
- .osm.secret
- .akash
- and so on.
Currently, 46757 ICNS names have been claimed. See the picture below.
3. StarGaze Names
Source: ICNS
How to Bridge ATOM?
For example, this allows ATOM and all other Cosmos ecosystem tokens, to trade on Uniswap. Or, for this matter, a variety of other Ethereum based AMMs. This is a decentralized and trustless blockchain. See the picture below for the Gravity Bridge infrastructure.
Source: Gravity Bridge FAQs
How to Be a Validator in Cosmos
The Cosmos Hub is a proof-of-stake chain. In this set up, a validator runs a full node. They also take part in consensus. Validators do this by broadcasting their votes. So, they also add new blocks to the network and in exchange for this, they receive rewards.
Anybody can become a validator in the Cosmos ecosystem. These are the steps to become a validator in Cosmos. You need to set up a ‘create validator’ transaction. This requires the following information by the validator. For instance:
- ‘Pubkey‘ – A private key to sign prevotes and precommits.
- Address – An app level address. It identifies a validator in public. The private key allows you to delegate, govern, unbond, or claim rewards.
- Name or moniker
- Website
- Description
- Initial commission rate
- Max commission
- Minimum self-delegation – The least amount of ATOM a validator bonds at all times.
Once you have set up a delegator, delegation can start by ATOM holders. This increases the validators staking pool. Cosmos has 175 validators. To take part in consensus, you need to be in this top 175. The more ATOM you stake, the easier it is to become a Cosmos validator. The picture below shows a list of Cosmos validators.
Source: Keplr Dashboard
Conclusion
This is Part 2 of our Cosmos beginners guide. This is Part 1. In this article, we covered four topics. For example, how to stake ATOM and how to become a validator in Cosmos. We also looked at name services and bridges.