A brief history of building in Cosmos
Integrity. Humility. Patience. Persistence. The foundations of the Persistence Ecosystem have been built around these four fundamental principles over the last 4 years.
The roots of Persistence were born out of strong beliefs in the app-chain thesis in a world outside monolithic fat protocols, Cosmos. What started as building for RWAs (real world assets) at a time that was too early for any significant PMF, led to a vision that was, again, ahead of time, but something too exciting to ignore: Liquid Staking.
Since genesis, Persistence and the Cosmos Hub have been on exciting journeys, often crossing paths at various interesting junctions.
- Persistence core-1 was one of the first chains to adopt the Cosmos SDK and IBC
- Hundreds of Millions of dollars worth of assets from 7 different chains were locked during the XPRT StakeDrop campaign, attracting eyeballs and onboarding users into Cosmos
- 200,000 XPRT tokens were allocated for ATOM stakers to claim
- 14.5M PSTAKE tokens were allocated for ATOM stakers to claim at PSTAKE token genesis
- Audit.one has provided reliable infrastructure to the Cosmos Hub as one of the earliest ATOM validators
- pSTAKE Finance pioneered the liquid staking landscape in Cosmos by launching stkATOM, one of the first in-production liquid staking solutions for ATOM
- Numerous contributions by Persistence Labs’ devs to the Cosmos tech stack suite, including the recent Liquid Staking Module on the Cosmos Hub
- Onboarding users to Cosmos and ATOM liquid staking from other ecosystems like Ethereum and BNB Chain through pSTAKE’s multi-chain presence
Based on the demand for yield on staked (locked) tokens during the XPRT StakeDrop campaign, the Persistence Ecosystem started building towards ‘LSTfi’ (liquid staking finance) before the term came to light.
Today, Persistence is best described as ‘a Cosmos appchain for LSTfi’. The bedrock of this liquid staking economy is currently powered by two main DeFi primitives, pSTAKE (LST issuance) and Dexter (LST liquidity).
stkATOM is now the cornerstone of the Persistence Ecosystem, driving demand for ATOM liquid staking, making Cosmos DeFi more viable and accessible in the Interchain. Ultimately, all ATOM liquid staking roads lead to / intersect at Persistence.
WTF is alignment?
Lately, Cosmonauts have been overwhelmed with discussions about the Hub’s credible neutrality, the role of $ATOM in the Interchain, and its future value accrual.
The task of leadership (Cosmos Hub) is to create an alignment of strengths so strong that it makes the system’s weaknesses irrelevant. Multiple ecosystem contributors like Le Thang (Cito Zone), Jose Maria Macedo (Delphi Labs), Avril (Neutron), and others have been vocal about these weaknesses like lack of distribution, complex onboarding experience, limited liquidity and DeFi applications, among others.
“I see alignment as anything that is a positive-sum exchange of value. You give something. You receive something. You make the system better than before this value exchange happened.”
Mikhil Pandey, Chief Strategy Officer at Persistence Labs
In the context of the Cosmos Hub, ATOM is the system. Some see it as security for chains. Some see it as decentralized governance. Some see it as a capital or investment tool. All of them see it as a service that solves one of the existing weaknesses.
Today, alignment comes in various shapes and forms:
- Consuming security from the Cosmos Hub in return for a percentage of revenue
- Being a DeFi / Liquidity Hub
- Connecting (liquidity and users) other ecosystems to Cosmos and vice-versa
- Migrating to a Cosmos app-chain
- Expanding ATOM’s utility and adoption
- Building infrastructure that supports ATOM staking / liquid staking
Doubling down with the Cosmos Hub
This attempts to explore ATOM (the system) as a capital/investment tool. This ‘Liquidity-as-a-Service’ can generate revenue for the Cosmos Hub, strengthen ATOM at the center of Cosmos LSTfi, and align multiple chains within and outside the Atom Economic Zone.
What the Persistence Ecosystem gives Cosmos Hub
- Direct opportunity to generate revenue via stkATOM staking rewards, DeFi yields with the Hub’s protocol-owned liquidity on Astroport and Dexter
- Indirect opportunity to generate revenue with potentially increased activity on Neutron by stkATOM
- Fee waiver on the 350k ATOM that it liquid stakes on pSTAKE
- 15% share of pSTAKE’s entire ATOM liquid staking revenue
- Diversified exposure of the Community Pool to ATOM LSTs
- Increased adoption of liquid staking
- ATOM (through stkATOM) as the biggest collateral of IST, a leading decentralized stablecoin in Cosmos
What the Persistence Ecosystem receives from Cosmos Hub
- Cosmos Hub’s endorsement (alignment) of its broader LSTfi vision
- Growth and adoption of LSTfi on Persistence with deeper stkATOM liquidity, stronger peg, and new use cases
- Immediate access to greater liquidity and traction
- Direct support from the Cosmos Hub to help Persistence succeed
How does it make the system (ATOM) better?
Simply put, all stakeholders involved in this proposition benefit from adoption, traction, and distribution because of $ATOM.
ATOM grows liquid staking that leads to higher and sustainable staking rewards for ATOM stakers, resulting in reduced reliance on inflation.
ATOM sets a precedent for it to be a catalyst for the Cosmos Hub to generate revenue in Cosmos (AEZ or not).
ATOM nudges three unique chain ecosystems in Cosmos to be a part of something bigger than themselves.
AEZ or ‘A & E’ Z?
The ATOM Economic Zone (AEZ) is undoubtedly a unique movement that could only have been birthed in the beautiful chaos of Cosmos. The relationship dynamics of the AEZ should be considered very similar to multiple peculiar business dynamics that can be observed in nature.
- Good parasites receive shelter by giving back added immunity to the body. Replicated Security?
- Venture Capital deploys capital strategically for the benefit of its investors and itself. Liquidity-as-a-Service?
- Centers of economic activities like harbors, airports, and roads charge a fee for the service they provide. ATOM Port City?
The ATOM Economic Zone should be a combination of services that the Cosmos Hub provides, similar to a traditional business. Cosmos Hub gives. You receive. You make the system better. $ATOM = Alignment.
To summarise, we foresee the AEZ to be all about ATOM and Economics. Any chain that adds value to the hub and ATOM would be considered a part of the AEZ. We see Persistence as an integral part of the ATOM Economic Zone.
About Persistence
Persistence is a cosmos app chain for LSTfi (liquid staking finance) with the issuance of & DeFi for LSTs.
The Persistence core-1 chain hosts pSTAKE Finance–a multi-chain liquid staking protocol for issuing LSTs that allows users to earn staking rewards while participating in DeFi primitives, Dexter–the Interchain DEX for yield-generating assets like LSTs.
Persistence aims to offer a one-stop shop for liquid staking for PoS (Proof-of-Stake) users and enable developers to build innovative applications around LSTs.
Become a Persister today!
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