Interchain Foundation Allocates $26.4 Million for Cosmos Ecosystem Development in 2024

According to Blockworks, the Interchain Foundation (ICF), a non-profit organization focused on the growth of the Cosmos ecosystem, has allocated $26.4 million to fund Interchain Stack development and adoption in 2024. This amount is significantly lower than in previous years, with the ICF providing $40 million in 2023 and spending $54.1 million in 2022 on ecosystem growth. The funding is divided into five core areas within the Cosmos ecosystem, including consensus layer software CometBFT, the Cosmos software development kit (SDK), the Interblockchain Communication protocol (IBC), the smart contracting platform for cross-chain interoperability CosmWasm, and the programming language CosmJS. Informal Systems will receive approximately $3 million for work on CometBFT, as they have maintained the software and its predecessor, Tendermint Core, since early 2022. Binary Builders will receive a tentative $3.5 million, and Zondax will be given roughly $1 million to improve the Cosmos SDK. The largest sum, $7.5 million, is allocated to Informal Systems, Interchain GmbH, and Strangelove Labs for the continued development of the IBC. Confio GmbH will receive $2.5 million for work on CosmWasm, and Cosmology will be given $155 thousand to enhance CosmJS. An additional $1.5 million will be allocated to audits for the interchain stack, and the remaining $7.2 million will be used as a strategic reserve. The Cosmos ecosystem has seen various projects collaborating in recent months. In October, liquid staking zone Stride proposed a merger with the Cosmos Hub, which was later rejected by ecosystem participants. In December, Cosmos's largest decentralized exchange, Osmosis, decided to merge with cross-chain lending protocol Umee, with a proposal expected in the coming months. Additionally, smart-contracting platform Neutron announced it had purchased 25% of GmbH, the team building CosmWasm, and is rebranding itself as the Integrated Application Network.