Cosmos (ATOM) is the native cryptocurrency of the Cosmos Hub, the central blockchain within a rapidly expanding ecosystem often dubbed the "Internet of Blockchains." Launched to solve the industry's fragmentation, the network allows independent, parallel blockchains to scale and communicate with each other seamlessly using the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol. At its technical core is the Tendermint consensus engine, which enables developers to easily build custom, high-performance blockchains using the Cosmos SDK without starting from scratch. The ATOM token serves as the economic center of the Cosmos Hub; it is used to secure the network through staking, pay for transaction fees, and vote on governance proposals that determine the future of the protocol.
