Cosmos gets a canonical EVM
The Interchain Foundation is open-sourcing evmOS under Apache 2.0 to streamline EVM adoption across the ecosystem
Furkan Cubuk/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks
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The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) continues to flex its network effects, now poised to play a strong role in the Cosmos Interchain ecosystem. The Interchain Foundation (ICF) has announced the open-sourcing of evmOS, which will be rebranded as Cosmos EVM. It’s positioned as the canonical EVM implementation for Cosmos SDK-based chains.
This move underscores a broader industry trend: Ecosystems that once sought to differentiate from Ethereum are now embracing its execution environment. That goes for Tezos, EOS, Ripple — even Iota!
By funding Cosmos EVM’s development and open release, the ICF aims to satisfy demand for an EVM standard. It allows any Cosmos chain to easily plug in Ethereum smart contracts and liquidity, according to Barry Plunkett, co-CEO of Interchain Labs (ICL).
“We’re going to make it extremely seamless for Cosmos developers to have an EVM and extend its functionality with Cosmos,” Plunkett told Blockworks.
The EVM isn’t new to Cosmos, but the ICF’s decision follows years of fragmented adoption — projects like Injective and Cronos previously forked versions of evmOS-forerunner Ethermint to build their own Ethereum-compatible chains. EvmOS’ developer, Tharsis Labs, licensed its up-to-date version to commercial partners such as Ripple, which used it for the Ripple EVM sidechain. These deals helped fund development but left the technology closed-source.
The ICF grant, which Plunkett describes as “small” but which recognizes “the great work that the [Tharsis] team has done,” will allow the code to be released under an Apache 2.0 license as part of the Cosmos SDK. ICL, as the engineering arm of ICF, will be the maintainers.
By making the Cosmos EVM part of the Interchain Stack, ICL aims to streamline development, improve user experience and expand interoperability between Cosmos and Ethereum-native applications.
Every prior EVM integration in Cosmos has felt “clunky,” according to Plunkett. The problems ranged from wallet incompatibility to poor bridging experiences, making it difficult for Ethereum users to interact with Cosmos chains.
Cosmos EVM, however, is set to change that.
“I think a lot of the existing chains will probably adopt this,” Plunkett said, adding: “We’re having a ton of conversations with upcoming chains — a next generation of Cosmos chains that haven’t picked their solution yet and have been waiting, wondering, ‘Is there going to be an official one?’”
The dominance of EVM is now evident across an array of layer-1 and layer-2 chains, including new Bitcoin L2s — some of which are built using the Cosmos SDK. Infrastructure providers — whether exchanges, custodians or oracles — favor standardization, and the EVM remains the path of least resistance.
ICL expects major DeFi protocols to take notice too, as Cosmos EVM should reduce the cost and effort needed for Ethereum-native teams to deploy apps within Cosmos.
Cosmos Hub and ATOM
While Cosmos EVM will be open-source and permissionless, Plunkett noted that Cosmos Hub governance will need to decide its own role in this shift.
“There’s going to be a question that the Cosmos Hub community needs to ask itself: Do we want CosmWasm? Do we want the EVM? Do we want both? How does this affect the Cosmos Hub’s role as being this distribution platform for the ecosystem?” Plunkett said.
The biggest unanswered question is whether Cosmos Hub will launch an EVM chain of its own. IBC v2 — also known as Eureka — is turning the Hub into a cross-chain liquidity router to connect Ethereum mainnet, Solana, and Ethereum L2s. If the Cosmos Hub deploys an EVM chain using ATOM as gas, it could attract new users, capital, and liquidity, making ATOM a more critical asset in cross-chain settlement.
With ICF leading outreach to major Ethereum protocols, Cosmos EVM could serve as the inflection point so that Cosmos is no longer walled off from Ethereum, and instead embraces the EVM’s growing footprint.
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