Interchain Foundation has purchased Skip, which is a team of 20 people deeply embedded within the Cosmos eco-system. This acquisition signals a radical change in their operational model. Interchain Inc. will be formed as a result of the acquisition. It is led by Barry Plunkett, one of Skip’s co-founders, and Maghnus Marneck, another.
This is a departure from ICF’s prior model, which funded independent teams for the development of parts of Cosmos. The move instead centralizes the development effort to align the work between the Cosmos Hub’s tech stack and broader ecosystem.
Ethan Buchman (co-founder, Cosmos, and former ICF Foundation Council Member) praised the purchase as an important step.
“[It’s] time to realize all the latent potential seething beneath the surface of the [Cosmos] and the [Cosmos Hub],” Buchman said. Skip Buchman, the CEO of Informal System, a company that coordinated upgrades such as Interchain Security, was identified by his firm, Informal, as its preferred candidate to lead in this ecosystem.
Informal Systems made a “small angel investment” Buchman said that Skip will repurchase the investment in order to avoid any perception of a conflict.
Plunkett described this acquisition as an emotional event for Skip. It was due to his ideological alignment with Cosmos. “Cosmos is the last ecosystem and stack that truly upholds the values of our movement: sovereignty for users and developers, permissionlessness, and trust-minimization,” Plunkett spoke on X.
Tackling Cosmos’ ‘liquidity crisis’
Skip is trying to fix what Plunkett refers to as the liquidity crisis that exists in Cosmos. Lack of liquidity is a major problem for developers and has led many to look at alternative eco-systems. This issue will be addressed by the Cosmos Hub, and ATOM its native token.
The Cosmos tech stack — including the Cosmos SDK, IBC protocol, and CometBFT consensus — is utilized by over 115 interconnected blockchains and secures billions in assets. In recent years, however, developers have faced challenges due to fragmentation, political conflict and the lack of a unifying leader.
“The Cosmos Hub right now doesn’t serve any kind of functions for the broader ecosystem, and it’s extremely hard to build on,” Plunkett told Blockworks. “We need to fix that by making it easier for builders and ensuring the Hub provides services to grow and scale chains, especially in terms of liquidity.”
This acquisition forms part of ICF’s broader strategic plan to consolidate engineering, marketing and growth efforts. It creates a coherent vision for the Interchain Stack and Cosmos Hub.
Skip and ICF seeks approval for their Cosmos Hub plan from the governance in January.
“But ultimately, we don’t have control over that at all,” Mareneck said.
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