The Tendermint and Chainsafe System development teams unveiled an alpha version of the Ethermint blockchain protocol. Built on the Cosmos SDK framework and Tendermint Core protocol, the network is fully compatible with Ethereum.
📣 @Ethermint v0.1.0 has been released! A scalable, high-throughput PoS blockchain, fully compatible and interoperable with Ethereum. Built with @cosmossdk and @Tendermint_Core.
⬇️ Download: https://t.co/bEksnwICcZ
📘 Docs: https://t.co/qLeh2akrFT#ethermint #cosmos #ethereum
— Ethermint (@ethermint) August 24, 2020
On the project's site it states that Ethermint provides the same functionality as Ethereum. This includes smart contracts, the virtual machine and clients.
The key difference lies in the use of the Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm instead of Proof-of-Work, with instant finality and support for the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol.
The project team warned that the released version 0.1.0 should be regarded as a “pre-alpha.” They added that the network at this stage is not intended to store value.
Eric Voorhees reacted to the release. The head of the cryptocurrency platform ShapeShift predicted that, due to rising Ethereum gas fees, ordinary users will soon lose access to DeFi protocols. In his view, the situation could change only with the transition to ETH 2.0 in 1–2 years.
He suggested that to satisfy demand, developers would be forced to port DeFi applications to Cosmos via Ethermint.
Prediction: Ethereum gas fees ruin Defi for normal users (until Ethereum 2.0 in 1-2 years). To meet demand, developers start rapidly porting Defi components over to Cosmos via Ethermint which just launched and is apparently compatible with Solidity already 😬 https://t.co/i37egVoyWl
— Erik Voorhees (@ErikVoorhees) August 24, 2020
Blockchain developer Floris van Lieshout of Deloitte added that, without integrating Layer-2 solutions, DeFi protocols could face a sharp drop in user interest within 2–3 months.
It will really depend on: 1 can DeFi protocols decide on a shared scaling standard (like rollups) as to maintain some form of composability? 2 Can they do so within the next 2-3 months? If not, the DeFi exodus might kick in.
— Floris van Lieshout (@flovanlieshout) August 24, 2020
In August, DeFi ambitions were announced by developers of Algorand, Waves with Ontology and Tron.
Earlier, developers of Cosmos, Polkadot and Terra announced the appearance of the DeFi protocol Anchor.
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