Evmos has stated its intention to deprecate Cosmos and move more in line with Ethereum. By requiring just Ethereum-style transactions, we can cut down on technical debt and increase engineering efficiency. By the conclusion of the third quarter of 2024, it is expected that Cosmos will be completely retired.
Till now, Cosmos and Ethereum existed in the ecosystem for separate functions. For instance, Cosmos was dedicatedly responsible for core protocol functionalities while Ethereum was interacting with dApps through smart contracts. The functions of Cosmos included governance, staking, token transfers, and interoperability.
The decision to deprecate Cosmos has been defined as strategic, to move forward in its roadmap to achieving full interoperability in EVM. The idea is to address the user experience needs of developers and users alike.
Federico Kunze Küllmer, the founder of Evmos, has talked about this more specifically. Küllmer has said that it was challenging to maintain compatibility with Ethereum and Cosmos clients, adding that they are now trying to align more with Ethereum developers, increase operational efficiency, and ship value to users faster. Needless to say, Evmos will continue to support all the core functionalities that are currently backed by Cosmos: governance, staking, and interoperability.
Addressing technical debt pertains to dealing with dual format support. Compatibility with Cosmos is not supported by Ethereum clients, and transactions in the format of Ethereum are difficult to decode by Cosmos clients.
Increasing efficiency will come by focusing solely on a single transaction format, which is Ethereum. In doing so, Evmos is estimated to significantly increase the engineering speed of its core team with lower maintenance effort. Users, in return, will gain quicker access to features and functionalities. A closer Ethereum alignment refers to embracing an Ethereum-first approach, bringing alignment to industry standards and uniformity for the community.
While Cosmos transactions are being deprecated, it is important to note that Evmos will continue to support its functionalities through EVM extensions.
Daniel Burckhardt, the CPO at Altiplanic-Evmos Core Development Team, has said that their EVM extensions will become first-class citizens in Evmos. Daniel has acknowledged that their team is uniquely positioned to address UX needs and will soon wrap Cosmos transactions functionalities to mitigate disruptions that may possibly arise.
Developers, users, and node operators have been suggested to migrate to clients that support EVM-based transactions. End users will have to transition to EVM wallets, including, but not limited to, MetaMask, WalletConnect, and Rabby. It has been stated that the entire Cosmos transaction fee will be burned until the third quarter of 2024.
Moving forward, Evmos is working to abstract Cosmos functionality to a familiar standard, aiming to enhance the experience of users and developers.
Evmos will continue to be an EVM Hub in the Cosmos ecosystem. EVM extensions will support the core functionality of the Cosmos Network.
The development comes days after Evmos shared its vision for DeFi 2.0 to accelerate the growth of its ecosystem.