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Managing Editor
Hristina Yordanova
Managing Editor
Hristina Yordanova
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In an interview with Cryptonews.com, Sunny Aggarwal, co-founder of Osmosis, shared his insights on the Cosmos ecosystem, his journey with decentralized exchanges (DEX), and the future of DeFi through Bitcoin.
Aggarwal, who has worked with Cosmos since its early days, discussed the challenges and opportunities within the ecosystem, how Osmosis became the premier DEX in Cosmos, and how Bitcoin-based DeFi could reshape the space.
Sunny Aggarwal’s Journey from Cosmos Developer to Osmosis Co-Founder
Aggarwal’s journey into crypto began during his college days at UC Berkeley, where he helped launch the Blockchain at Berkeley club. Initially working at ConsenSys on Ethereum projects, he ultimately moved to Cosmos, drawn by its vision for decentralized app chains and independence from Ethereum’s model.
“I was so obsessed with what I was doing… I dropped out of college to work on Cosmos full-time,” Aggarwal explained, seeing Cosmos as the way to build a “network of app chains.”
His early experiences working on the Cosmos SDK and IBC (Inter-Blockchain Communication) protocol provided the foundation for his next venture: Osmosis. Created in 2021, Osmosis has quickly grown into a DEX powerhouse, facilitating over $35 billion in trading volume and connecting more than 100 blockchains.
Aggarwal attributes this success to the Cosmos framework’s flexibility, stating, “Cosmos lets people build…designed to be customized, much like Linux for operating systems.”
Tackling Ecosystem Challenges: The Case of ATOM
The Cosmos ecosystem has faced criticism recently, primarily due to the price performance of its token, ATOM. Aggarwal addressed this by discussing Cosmos’ unique, non-hierarchical design, in which ATOM was not intended to dominate the ecosystem as ETH does for Ethereum. Cosmos, he explained, aimed to foster a “non-rent-seeking” system where ATOM acts more as a service provider than a monopolistic token.
Aggarwal pointed to internal setbacks, including organizational instability within early Cosmos development companies, which have left ATOM somewhat stagnant. However, he remains optimistic, noting that Cosmos continues to expand, with projects like Celestia, Injective, and Thorchain among its top players.
“People are over-crediting the ‘death’ of Cosmos,” he stated, highlighting that the ecosystem is still seeing notable adoption.
The Rise of Osmosis: Cosmos’ Leading DEX
Osmosis has become the leading DEX in the Cosmos ecosystem, driven by features tailored to the decentralized finance space. Initially conceived as a tool for privacy-focused DeFi, Osmosis quickly grew to dominate trading within Cosmos.
The project received a major boost when UST and Luna joined the ecosystem, sparking unprecedented trading volumes. “I think that $35 billion in volume… two-thirds of that was during that first year,” Aggarwal said.
Osmosis aims to continue expanding its reach by focusing on two goals: incorporating Bitcoin-based DeFi and improving cross-chain interoperability through a feature called Polaris. With Polaris, users can trade assets across multiple blockchains using a unified interface, effectively addressing liquidity fragmentation, a long-standing issue in DeFi.
“We want to be the Switzerland of DEXs,” Aggarwal emphasized, explaining how Osmosis strives to offer users one location to trade assets from multiple blockchains.
Bitcoin-Based DeFi: The Next Frontier
Aggarwal envisions Bitcoin playing a major role in the DeFi space, albeit indirectly. Rather than complicating the Bitcoin network with DeFi functionality, Osmosis aims to facilitate the trustless bridging of Bitcoin to other chains.
“Bitcoin is the biggest asset in crypto, but there’s really not any good decentralized exchange for it.”
Osmosis, through collaborations with bridge providers like Nomic, is working to integrate Bitcoin seamlessly, creating a Bitcoin-based DeFi experience on Osmosis.
With the Cosmos ecosystem’s increasing growth and new ventures into Bitcoin-based DeFi, Aggarwal remains confident about Osmosis’ future.
His vision extends beyond token trading; he aims for Osmosis to be a fundamental hub where users can seamlessly trade assets from various blockchains in a decentralized environment.
You can watch the full video interview here.
About Sunny Aggarwal
Sunny Aggarwal is the Co-Founder of Osmosis, the premier DEX and DeFi hub for the Cosmos ecosystem and beyond. To date, the Osmosis DEX has facilitated over $35 Billion in trading volume, and more than 100 separate blockchains have connected to the Osmosis blockchain.
At Tendermint, Sunny served as a Core Developer of the Cosmos SDK and contributed to the development and launch of Cosmos and IBC. Sunny then decided to build on top of the foundation he had developed at Tendermint and co-founded Osmosis to develop an appchain and DEX that rivals even the most robust centralized exchanges.
