Nomic's New Upgrade Bridges Bitcoin into the Cosmos Ecosystem

Image: Shutterstock 

On October 4 at the Cosmoverse 2023 conference, Osmosis, the most renowned and biggest DEX on Cosmos, revealed its plans to enhance the Cosmos network by allowing Bitcoin(BTC) to be universally accessible within its ecosystem. The upgrade is set to be released on October 27, 2023, and activated on October 30, 2023.

Currently, there are only a few decentralised and streamlined methods available for bringing BTC into the Cosmos network. To address this, Osmosis will be integrating the Nomic bridge launched by the Nomic DOA Foundation. The bridge would allow users to bring their BTC into Cosmos using nBTC, an IBC-compatible token, eliminating the need to convert their BTC into a different crypto.

This upgrade will enable swift BTC deposits and withdrawals throughout the Cosmos network from any platform or chain in the ecosystem. In addition to Osmosis, users can deposit and withdraw BTC directly in other popular Cosmos applications like Kujira and Levana.

Nomic will allow users to do more than just storing BTC in their wallets without using it. Users will be able to participate in different markets and DeFi products, including liquidity provisioning (LPing). This strategy is meant to make the most out of BTC in the Cosmos network, supporting the platform's long-term success and its users' growth.

To ensure the security of BTC transactions, Nomic is undergoing an audit process. Once audits are completed, the Nomic DAO will take control of bridge capacity and fee controls, allowing for potential expansion and improved bridge utilisation.

Sunny Aggarwal, co-founder of Osmosis, sees this development as the realisation of Cosmos becoming the application layer for Bitcoin. "Bitcoin is in deep need of an application DeFi ecosystem, and Cosmos is in need of a base money asset that can serve as its primary store of value. Nomic will help make this long-awaited union for a Bitcoin-centric Cosmos a reality.", he says.

The Nomic DAO Foundation's plan to integrate Bitcoin (BTC) into the Cosmos ecosystem through the nBTC Interchain Upgrade represents a significant step toward advancing the functionality and accessibility of the Nomic platform. A secure method for transferring BTC into Cosmos was lacking until now, but Nomic has addressed this gap.

Shashank is the founder of yMedia. He ventured into crypto in 2013 and is an ETH maximalist. Twitter: @bhardwajshash