Cosmos Hub

Cosmos Hub (ATOM) is the central hub blockchain of the Cosmos network, a collection of independent blockchains called zones that run in parallel. Each zone relies on a Byzantine fault-tolerant consensus protocol such as Tendermint, and the design uses Proof-of-Stake instead of Proof-of-Work.

Some zones act as hubs that let other zones connect through a shared point. A new zone can be linked to the Cosmos Hub so that tokens move between chains without an intermediary. The Hub is a multi-asset ledger, and ATOM is its native token.

ATOM has three functions. It pays transaction fees that discourage spam, it can be bonded in staking to secure the network, and it carries voting weight on governance proposals. The more ATOM is staked, the higher the economic cost of attacking the chain.

The Cosmos ecosystem also addresses banks and credit unions. It offers tokenized deposits and tools for issuing digital assets, including a link to Swift's ledger for cross-border payments.