The Cosmos Hub testnet is the final runway and training ground for consumer chains, CosmWasm projects, and validators looking to upskill their Gaia and ICS abilities. Validating the testnet requires just as much (if not more) effort than validating the mainnet Hub, but there are no staking or block rewards as compensation. The Testnet Incentives Program compensates validators for their hard work on the Hub’s testnet.
The Testnet Incentives Program is essential for the Hub’s continuous positive evolution and continues to prove its impact on network success, which is why Atom Accelerator DAO (AADAO) decided to provide another grant to continue to fund this initiative through June 2025.
About Hypha’s Testnet Incentives Program
The Cosmos Hub has the most well-developed testnet program in the interchain. Every week, Hypha runs testnet events designed to train validators in Hub operations and best practices. We’ve been running these events since 2023, including changelog reviews, consumer chain launches, sovereign-to-consumer transitions, and all kinds of upgrades.
Week after week, validators need to show up and engage with the testnet as though it were a mainnet chain with user funds and delegators at stake. But by design, the testnet does not hold any real financial value. Without incentives, many validators cannot afford to run the infrastructure required for the Hub’s testnet. The Testnet Incentives Program addresses this by directly compensating validators for their performance and reliability on the testnet.
AADAO’s $90,000 USD grant provides six months’ worth of testnet events. Each month has a budget of $15,000 incentives that will be distributed based on a points system that Hypha developed and has used for other incentivized testnets such as Game of Chains, Interchain Security Lightning Experiment (ISLE), and the Laconic Operational Ranking and Onboarding (LORO) testnet.
Driving Value to the Hub
The Hub’s strength is its responsive and well-trained validator set, which secures its impressive ATOM market cap. The Hub has some of the fastest and smoothest upgrades in the interchain, even in emergencies. Those habits are built on the testnet, where validators run through countless upgrades and learn to adapt to issues and coordinate with one another in the moment.
Some major mainnet events that have been de-risked on the testnet first include:
- Neutron’s consumer chain launch
- Stride’s sovereign-to-consumer transition
- Major state migrations during governance upgrades
- Transition to permissionless Interchain Security
- Enabling DAO DAO on the Hub
Final Thoughts
The Testnet Incentives Program exists to compensate Hub validators for their high performance on the interchain’s largest and most demanding testnet program, which supports the Hub’s smooth operations and security. It’s essential that initiatives like these continue to be supported for the greater good of the Hub.
For more information on the Hub’s testnets, check out Hypha’s testnets repository and follow them on Twitter.
