Welcome to Gateway: A gateway to Cosmos ecosystem which is reshaping the blockchain landscape with seamless cross-chain liquidity and message routing. Whether you are a cosmos developer or a DApp buidler, join us in the world of Appchains and explore the endless possibilities through Gateway.
In this guide, we will delve into the 'Why,' 'What,' 'How,' and 'For Whom' of the Gateway. This resource is designed for individuals with a basic understanding of blockchain, Cosmos, and Wormhole. It is strongly recommend revisiting the introductory section of Cosmos and Wormhole to ensure a comprehensive understanding before proceeding with Gateway.
The aim is to educate and raise awareness about Gateway to enhance cross-chain possibilities, leverage the Cosmos ecosystem, and ultimately explore new horizons within the blockchain ecosystem.
Cosmos being a leader in interoperability (IBC) and recognizing the growing Appchain trend, Wormhole identified several unmet opportunities and needs:
New security and accounting features for Guardians through Cosmos stack
Deep integration with Cosmos.
Unmet Needs of Cosmos:
Connecting cosmos with rest of the blockchain ecosystem
No additional bridge fees
Permissionless asset listing experience.
Recognizing these needs, the Wormhole Foundation announced a solution at Osmoscon 2023: the launch of the Wormhole Gateway An application-specific blockchain, powered by the Cosmos SDK.
The primary objective of Gateway is to expand accessibility and liquidity within the Cosmos ecosystem, while simultaneously enhancing Wormhole's security and sovereignty.
In practical terms, when someone moves a token from any of the 23+ blockchains connected to Wormhole to a Cosmos SDK chain through Gateway, the asset gets locked, and a new ICS-20 version is created on Gateway. This newly minted token is then sent to the destination chain via IBC.
For instance:
Users can bridge Ethereum's native ETH to the Cosmos ecosystem, making it available for use in various DeFi applications on networks like Gravity DEX.
Users can utilize Gateway to bridge Polygon's MATIC tokens to the Cosmos network, where it can be in liquidity pools on Osmosis or staked on Akash.
Bridge $SOL to Cosmos via Gateway for various DeFi applications such as liquidity provision on Gravity DEX or as collateral on Mars Protocol.
This resulting ICS-20 token becomes interchangeable through Strangelove's packet forward middleware. Gateway also utilizes IBC Hooks for seamless integration with CosmWasm contracts. [More details to it are mentioned in the upcoming section.]
Gateway's core function is to enhance transparency and transaction security on its public ledger.
External Chain → Cosmos Supported Chain
Cosmos Chain → Cosmos Chain
Benefits of Gateway:
Scalability: Guardians have to run only one full node on Gateway vs one for every Cosmos chain, unlike non-Cosmos chains.
Fungibility: Gateway acts as router for transfers of Wormhole xAssets between Cosmos chains.
Security: Gateway leverages IBC light clients to facilitate asset transfers to and between Cosmos chains.
More detailed explanations about Scalability, Fungibility, and Security are provided in the upcoming sections.
The initial phase of the Gateway will link 23 Cosmos-based chains, including prominent chains like Osmosis, Evmos, Noble and Sei.
Who is Gateway for?
Gateway was designed with two user groups in mind:
Cosmos developers, aiming to seamlessly onboard users and liquidity from other ecosystems like Ethereum and Solana, and users seeking to bridge their assets to or from Cosmos.
However, Gateway allows anyone to transfer fungible assets across Cosmos chains.
