Contact Atom Accelerator

Atom Accelerator DAO (AADAO) is a governance-mandated DAO of the Cosmos Hub. We have been formed and mandated to drive value for the Cosmos Hub & ATOM, supporting initiatives that either directly create economic impact or produce value that can drive its growth. From this, our current primary mandates are public grants & venture grants.

Atom Accelerator’s venture arm strategically invests in promising early-stage Web3 founders and startups both within and outside of the Cosmos Hub’s ecosystem. As experts within the Cosmos ecosystem, Atom Accelerator offers expertise, guidance, and support while driving value toward ATOM.

In 2023, we deployed $3.8 million in grants to 39 recipients – resulting in, among other things – a $22m USD airdrop to the Community Pool, an AEZ Accelerator program to expand the AEZ, a successful hackathon with 42 project submissions bringing innovations to the AEZ – and many other key initiatives. Read about them in our 2023 Impact Report.

The Cosmos Hub is a pioneering blockchain, that gave birth to the Cosmos ecosystem and the modular Interchain Stack (aka Cosmos Stack).

Launched in 2019, the teams behind the Cosmos Hub conceptualized and funded the Interchain Stack, which today powers over 100 sovereign blockchains. Read the Cosmos whitepaper.

Today, the Cosmos Hub serves as a major economic, political and cultural center of the Cosmos ecosystem. It continues to be the primary chain that funds public goods within the Cosmos ecosystem, is the largest liquidity exporter across the IBC-connected interchain ecosystem and through Interchain Security, the Cosmos Hub provides economic security to its Consumer Chains.

The ATOM Economic Zone (AEZ) is an ecosystem of blockchains and dApps that bring direct value to Cosmos Hub.

The core of the AEZ is the ATOM Security Zone, which comprises blockchains and dApps secured by Cosmos Hub’s economic security through Interchain Security.

The Atom Accelerator DAO (AADAO) is a decentralized organization created by an onchain vote on the Cosmos Hub. It does not hold any trademarks or copyrights for ATOM or Cosmos Hub – which were acquired / registered before AADAO was formed.

The Interchain Foundation holds trademarks and copyrights for ATOM and Cosmos.

No, you don’t need to use ATOM as Gas. In fact, we also invest in projects that aren’t in the Cosmos ecosystem.

Learn more about our investment thesis here.

Technically, yes—you can apply for funding through more than one of our funding programs. However, the scope of the funding and arrangements will have to be different.

For example, you are developing a new Cosmos SDK module that will add a specific functionality to the Cosmos Hub. Assuming you meet the requirements of the different funding programs and the approval thresholds, you could:

• Get funding via our Regular Grants program to build out the module and integrate it to the Cosmos Hub
• Get funding via Quadratic Grants, once you have completed the above, and have now released the module for any other Cosmos SDK chain to use.
• Get funding via our Ventures Program, once you decide to apply some monetization strategy and wish to further develop the module and productize it

This is just an illustrative example of how a project could be eligible for multiple funding programs. It does not mean that you will definitely be eligible, nor guarantee that your applications will be approved.

We fund projects that align with our investment thesis, including those launching with Interchain Security, projects within the Cosmos ecosystem that provide value accrual to ATOM, and high ROI Web3 projects across any ecosystem. You don’t have to be a Cosmos project, nor do you need to use ATOM as Gas.

Learn more about our investment thesis here.