Interchain Foundation
Swiss non-profit advancing interoperable blockchain ecosystems
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About Interchain Foundation
The Interchain Foundation (ICF) is a Swiss nonprofit that stewards the Cosmos ecosystem, including the Cosmos SDK, IBC protocol, and CometBFT consensus engine. Its core mission is to enable an open network of sovereign, interoperable blockchains. IBC serves as the standard for cross-chain communication, allowing independent chains to exchange tokens and data securely. The main problem ICF addresses is blockchain fragmentation: without a common interoperability standard, each chain operates in isolation, limiting liquidity and user reach. By maintaining open-source tools and supporting ecosystem development, ICF helps developers launch custom chains that can connect to a wider network.
In the past six months (March–September 2026), ICF faced a significant security incident. A vulnerability in Cosmos EVM, first reported in April 2026, was mistakenly assessed as low risk. A silent patch was released in May, but in August external researchers confirmed the bug could affect production chains. The patch was published on August 19, yet exploits began within hours, draining about $5.7 million from six chains, including MANTRA, TAC, and KiiChain. Critics said the response was too slow and lacked clear emergency warnings. ICF later acknowledged it did not maintain a full registry of all Cosmos EVM deployments and discovered 11 unregistered chains during the response. To support affected networks, the Interchain Foundation launched a grant program aimed at improving ecosystem security, infrastructure, and incident response. The incident highlighted structural risks in multi-chain frameworks: shared code means shared vulnerabilities, while coordination across independent chains remains difficult.
The Interchain Foundation, core developer of Cosmos, acquired blockchain solution provider Skip Protocol, a step of lasting strategic value for strengthening technical infrastructure.
It renamed its wholly-owned subsidiary from Interchain Labs to Cosmos Labs. The Foundation also created a funding program for chains affected by the Cosmos EVM event and holds $241 million in cryptocurrencies, reflecting sustained financial capacity.
Major progress in the past six months:
In August 2026, Cosmos Stack released version 2026.1, integrating CometBFT v0.39, Cosmos SDK v0.54, and Cosmos EVM v0.7.0, achieving 2,000+ TPS with sub-second block times, adding PoA module and other enterprise governance capabilities, supporting over $75B in tokenized assets.
Cosmos Hub confirmed its product direction: acting as an intermediary between traditional finance and on-chain finance, focusing on RWA issuance, distribution, and bidirectional access, with a public roadmap planned by end of September.
ICF delegation program Q3 adjustment: validators required to participate in testnet; 50 validators received ~13.878M ATOM delegations, with two ecosystem growth projects receiving special support.
In August, a Cosmos EVM vulnerability was exploited, affecting six chains with losses of ~$5.7M; Cosmos Labs coordinated with 40 chains and improved vulnerability disclosure and remediation processes.
On interoperability, the foundation announced bringing IBC to EVM, Canton, and Hyperledger Besu, advancing institutional-grade cross-chain standards.
Future focus: Cosmos Hub as RWA/DeFi bridge; IBC as the interoperability standard for on/off-chain finance; enterprise adoption of Cosmos Ledger; strengthened security and vulnerability response.
Interchain Foundation (the developer of Cosmos) has recently seen a team change. Nico Poggi joined in May 2026, taking on the role of Public Affairs. This is the only recent change, with no departures reported.