Cosmos (ATOM) Launches Stargate Implementation, Paving Way for IBC Protocol

The so-called “internet of blockchains,” Cosmos Network, just rolled out a significant upgrade for its ecosystem

Cosmos Network, the so-called “internet of blockchains,” has rolled out a significant upgrade.

The blockchain company announced the implementation of its “Stargate” upgrade, which will improve cross-chain data and asset transfers seamlessly.

Bringing Blockchains Together

The Stargate upgrade is a critical stepping stone that precedes the launch of Cosmos’s inter-blockchain communication (IBC) protocol. Primarily, the protocol will ensure easy interoperability between blockchains.

🔊 Cosmos community of validators, developers, integrators, clients, end users and $ATOM holders…Stargate is live! 🎉

Congrats to Cosmos Hub Validators and engineers for making this happen! 🎉https://t.co/ZJrEa8QIq0

Today, we enter the #Stargate ! 🚀 https://t.co/VOYsTKDKYe

— Cosmos – Internet of Blockchains (@cosmos) February 18, 2021

Other features include the Protobuf migration, which will boost front-end development and grow overall performance and stare sync, which will improve node synchronization by at least 20 times and help nodes participate in consensus in just minutes as opposed to days.

Excitement about Stargate’s launch has been building up for some time now. Initially scheduled for January 28, it was eventually postponed to February 18. Speaking with CoinDesk, Zaki Manian, the founder of Iqlusion (Cosmos’ developers), explained that IBC wouldn’t be available for at least a fortnight. However, they now have the underlying infrastructure to make the jump, and things are looking up.

So, while another delay is inevitable, the progress made is definitely encouraging.

ATOM Surges on Stargate News

Anticipation for the new Stargate launch has also been reflected in Cosmos’ ATOM token price, which has seen a surge of 240 percent in the past month. The asset was trading at $7.83 on February 1, but it has since jumped and is now trading at $23.91 at press time.

Analysts pegged the rise to several factors. The first is the rerating of several layer-one blockchain protocols, including Polkadot and Avalanche. Rerating occurs when a cryptocurrency’s value jumps rapidly after it falls flat for a prolonged period.

Rerating typically occurs when the market finds that an asset has been undervalued or several catalysts boost the blockchain protocol itself. With Avalanche and Polkadot seeing significant gains in recent weeks, ATOM appears to have been primed for a jump too.

Another notable factor has been the rise in the value of several projects running on Cosmos. Speaking on Twitter, pseudonymous decentralized finance (DeFi) investor known as “SpiderCrypto” pointed out that several projects using the blockchain had crossed the $10 billion market cap peg.

With names like Binance Smart Chain and Terra using Cosmos’s network, it’s easy to see why Cosmos, and, by extension, ATOM, can be undervalued. A successful launch and operation could see the asset rise even higher over the next few weeks.