Interchain Foundation funds Tharsis Labs to open-source evmOS

The Interchain Foundation is funding the Tharsis Labs team to release an open-source evmOS, the Ethereum-compatible layer 1 solution targeted at boosting interoperability between Ethereum and Cosmos.

The funding will see Tharsis Labs open-source evmOS, bringing Cosmos’ (ATOM) functionality to users on the Ethereum (ETH) network.

Interchain Foundation, the entity helping to advance the Cosmos ecosystem and its Inter-Blockchain Communication protocol, announced the development on March 18.

With evmOS, developers can build EVM-powered decentralized applications and chains using the Cosmos software development kit. Tharsis Labs will open-source the Ethereum virtual machine-compatible software under the Apache 2.0 license, Interchain Foundation said.

In this case, ICF will fork evmOS’ technology and rename it Cosmos EVM, which will allow the Cosmos ecosystem’s steward to continue the project’s development.

Cosmos EVM will be part of the Interchain Stack and be built under the Interchain Labs team. 

“We feel this is the right thing for the community for the longevity of the code we’ve developed, and are excited about the ICF’s support of this. I look forward to contributing to this next phase in a strategic advisory role,” said Federico Kunze Küllmer, co-founder of evmOS and representative of Tharsis Labs. 

According to the ICF, an open-source provenance will see further integration of the forked tech stack, bringing permissionless innovation to the space. The integration of evmOS as the main EVM solution for Cosmos targets benefits such as cross-chain communication for the scaling of DeFi applications.

Despite the funding and forking of the evmOS, the ICF says it remains committed to the projec’s roadmap. As well as Ethereum compatibility, the Interchain Foundation aims to build evmOS into the solution all proof-of-stake networks can tap into for fresh web3 adoption.

“evmOS has been a critical piece in bridging the Ethereum and Cosmos ecosystems, and we are excited to support its continued evolution under the Interchain Foundation umbrella,” Josh Cincinnati, president of the ICF’s Foundation Council, said.

In July last year, LayerZero Labs partnered with Initia Labs for an interoperability standard for Cosmos. The collaboration aimed to bring omnichain interoperability to Cosmos SDK and LayerZero-enabled chains.