On April 6th, 2017, the Interchain Foundation (ICF) held a public fundraiser to raise funds for the development of the Cosmos Network and the Cosmos Project in general and to create an endowment for the ICF to pursue its mission of research and development for open and decentralized networks.
This network launch represents a major milestone in that journey where the participants in the fundraiser finally operate a decentralized network based on the software together.
This document focuses only on the way the ATOM allocation recommendations and the genesis state have been implemented in the Genesis Block Release Software. Please assure that you read all other documentations on the software carefully as negligence in interacting with it could lead to an indefinite loss of your ATOMs.
The genesis file can be regenerated by anyone based on the subcomponents of the ICF's recommendations.
To regenerate the genesis file, ensure the repository root is within $GOPATH/src and run:
dep ensure
go run main.goA few lines of text should be printed, followed by three lines listing the total address count, total ATOM supply, and total gentx count, and genesis.json should be written.
Each subcomponent can be verified according to the README.md and main.go files
in the respective directory under accounts.
A ceremony was held to determine an initial validator set for the recommended genesis state. The ceremony allowed anyone with a recommended allocation of ATOMs to submit a signed "genesis transaction" declaring their intention to be in the initial validator set. The ceremony was conducted in this very GitHub repository. Details about the ceremony can be found here.
A total of 67 valid gentx submissions were merged into the gentx directory and are
included in the recommended genesis state. 2/3 of these validators by stake will need to come online in order for the network to start.
The terms and conditions of the fundraiser specified that the ICF would make a recommendation in the Genesis Block Release Software for the initial allocation of ATOMs in the Cosmos Network ("recommendation") as follows:
- 1 ATOM for every $0.10 USD worth of BTC or ETH contributed during the public fundraiser
- 1 ATOM for every $0.075 USD to $0.085 USD contributed by strategic and early contributors
- 5% of the total ATOMs to the very first financial contributors (seed contributors)
- 10% of the total ATOMs to the Interchain Foundation
- 10% of the total ATOMs to All in Bits Inc (AiB, the company doing business as "Tendermint")
For all USD/BTC and USD/ETH values mentioned above the relevant exchange rates as defined in the terms and conditions are decisive.
According to these terms and conditions, and as described in much more detail below, the ICF recommends a total of 236,198,958.12 ATOMs be allocated at genesis to 984 accounts. A working copy of the recommended genesis file reflecting this total and the results of the fundraiser has been available on github since the fundraiser was completed, and was queryable at the fundraiser website.
Of the recommended 236,198,958.12 ATOMs, and as described in much more detail below:
- 1,777,707 ATOMs are locked for 1 year to current and former employees, contractors, and founders of All in Bits Inc
- 21,842,188.81 ATOMs are vesting monthly for 22 months starting 2 months after launch to All in Bits Inc
- 20,277,188.49 ATOMs are allocated to the ICF
As specified in the fundraiser documents, the ICF recommends the Cosmos Network be initiated with an allocation of ATOMs based on 4 categories of contributions to the development and launch of the Cosmos Network: Private Contributors, Public Contributors, All in Bits Inc (AiB), and the Interchain Foundation (ICF).
All allocations are unrestricted except for AiB's. If the possibility to transfer ATOM would be activated in the future, these ATOM still are subject to the "vesting" conditions, as described below.
Private contributors consisted of "seed contributors" and "strategic and early contributors". The strategic and early contributors contributed an amount of USD 1,329,472.33 at a discount from the public fundraiser's USD/ATOM rate (discounts ranged from 15-25%), prior to the public fundraiser. The recommended allocation to strategic and early contributors is 16,856,718.97 ATOMs.
The seed contributors contributed an amount of USD 300,000. Their recommended allocation is 11,809,947.91 ATOMs.
This is a total of 28,666,666.88 ATOMs to seed, strategic, and early financial contributors, allocated to 15 addresses. These ATOMs are not subject to a vesting scheme in the event transfers become activated. See JSON.
Public contributors consisted of public members of the Tendermint and Cosmos community that participated in the fundraiser on April 6th, 2017. A total amount of 16,029,305.06 USD was contributed by 864 addresses, at a recommended rate of USD 0.10/ATOM (based on the equivalent BTC/USD and ETH/USD rates as defined within the terms and conditions). Note these totals take into account rejected contributors who contributed too much or too late, as summarized in the blog post. These ATOMs are not subject to a vesting scheme in the event transfers become activated. See JSON.
The values here can be recomputed using any Bitcoin and Ethereum nodes synced past April 7, 2017. For instance, see the scripts in accounts/public.
AiB is recommended 10% of the total genesis ATOM allocation for developing the open-source IP that underlies the Cosmos Network. This equals a total of 23,619,895.81 ATOMs. These ATOMs are subject to the vesting scheme as defined below; they can all be used for staking and governance, but cannot be transferred, even if the transferability of ATOM is activated - their transferability "vests" over time. AiBs ATOMs are split into two sets, each subject to a different form of vesting.
The first set consists of 1,777,707 ATOMs allocated to 44 addresses owned by AiB founders, contractors, and employees, current and past. These atoms are non-transferable for 12 months, but can be used for staking and governance. After 12 months, if the transferability of the ATOM is activated, they become fully transferable. See JSON.
The remaining set of AiBs atoms are held in an AiB multisig and vest continuously starting 2 months after genesis. This is a total of 21,842,188.81 ATOMs. See JSON.
ICF is recommended 10% of the total genesis ATOM allocation to support its mandate of R&D for open and decentralized networks, with particular focus on the Cosmos Network and the Cosmos Project in general. This is a total of 23,619,895.81 ATOMs. ICF ATOMs are split into three sets - all are unrestricted and not subject to a vesting scheme in case the transferability of ATOM is activated.
The first set is for advisors and early contributors to organizing the fundraiser and foundation structure, a total of 3,054,207.32 ATOMs allocated to 8 addresses. See JSON.
The second set is for the so-called Game-of-Stakes participants, according to the scoring criteria set out by AiB. This is a total of 288,500 ATOMs allocated to 53 addresses. Congrats to the Game-of-Stakes participants! See JSON.
The third set of ICF atoms are held in ICF multisigs. This is a total of 20,277,188.49 ATOMs split between two distinct multisig addresses controlled by the ICF. See JSON.
The Cosmos Hub is highly experimental software. In these early days, we can expect to have issues, updates, and bugs. The existing tools require advanced technical skills and involve risks which are outside of the control of the Interchain Foundation and/or the Tendermint team (see also the risk section in the Interchain Cosmos Contribution Terms). Any use of this open source Apache 2.0 licensed software is done at your own risk and on a “AS IS” basis, without warranties or conditions of any kind, and any and all liability of the Interchain Foundation and/or the Tendermint team for damages arising in connection to the software is excluded. Please exercise extreme caution!