Cosmos developers liquidate $9.5M in ETH—Will the v19 upgrade drive innovation or instability?

Cosmos developer Interchain Foundation has liquidated 4,000 ETH worth around $9.5 million. The Cosmos developer sale happened recently and was part of a broader trend over the last five months. Since the end of April this year, the foundation has sold 15,100 ETH worth around $37.09 million.

Interchain’s ETH sales spark debate amid $132 million in revenue

Interchain has sold 223,305 ETH and 4,499 BTC, making over $132.2 million in revenue. However, the foundation still has a significant balance of 383.8 Bitcoin and 23,587 Ethereum. 

Cosmos Hub announced the release of its v19 upgrade a couple of weeks ago, which coincided with recent sales. The development is expected to enhance the platform’s efficiency, security, and functionality. 

Though the magnitude of the Foundation’s transactions concerns the community, it has yet to release detailed information about the purpose of these sales. This has left some investors and Cosmos enthusiasts speculating about potential strategic initiatives or operational funding needs.

The Cosmos Hub v19 upgrade integrates the latest core technologies

The establishment of Cosmos Hub v19  is a result of the collaboration between Cosmos Hub validators and the Binary Builders team. 

One of the major highlights of Cosmos Hub v19 is the onboarded Cosmos SDK v0.50, which is expected to make the development process easier and faster and power more resilient and scalable applications in the ecosystem.

Moreover, the IBC protocol itself received massive functionality enhancements for cross-chain interactions, allowing blockchains to send data to each other to enable communication between chains.

The Interchain Foundation faces scrutiny over its financial management

The fact that Interchain is still selling Bitcoin and Ethereum supports the notion that initial coin offerings (ICOs) are still important in the cryptocurrency market. Although the market has changed since 2017, the Foundations’ strategy of progressively changing assets has ensured that they keep a sizable amount of financial resources. 

Still, the Interchain Foundation recently faced a vote of no confidence due to suspicion that its leadership had mismanaged funds meant to promote Cosmos’ development.

In addition to a vote of no confidence, Grace Yu, the proposal’s author, is demanding the foundation release years of financial records.

The ICF has observably failed to uphold its fiduciary duties to ATOM investors and the Cosmos Hub. Grace Yu

Yu’s proposal stated this referring to the blockchain at the heart of the Cosmos ecosystem and its native token.