Exploring the Multidimensional Security Model of Cosmos Hub: New Strategies for Blockchain Security

Recently, the product head of Cosmos Hub initiated a discussion on the consumer chain joining mechanism in the community forum, sparking new thoughts on blockchain security strategies. In the context of fierce competition in inter-chain security solutions, Cosmos Hub is considering accelerating its deployment in this area through a diversified consumer chain model.

Cosmos Hub previously introduced the "replicated security" mechanism through the V9 Lambda upgrade, enabling it to lease security to consumer chains while enhancing ATOM's value capture capability. However, this solution requires each validator to run all consumer chains, limiting its flexibility and cost-effectiveness.

To address these limitations, two new membership schemes are now proposed:

1. Permissionless solution based on transactions:

   • Developers can directly initiate the consumer chain through trading.
   • Validators can choose whether to join.
   • The advantage is high openness, but it requires developers to actively communicate with validators.

2. Lightweight Permissioned Selective Joining Scheme:

   • Developers need to submit governance proposals
   • Validators decide whether to join through voting
   • Utilize the existing governance mechanism, but set certain thresholds.

In addition, there is a discussion of the "Top-N" scheme, which requires that the top n% of the validator set must run the consumer chain, while other validators can participate optionally.

These new solutions have trade-offs in security and flexibility compared to existing replication security. Replication security provides the strongest protection but at a higher cost, selective participation increases flexibility but faces security fluctuations, while emerging solutions like mesh security allow for cross-chain security sharing.

Cosmos Hub is exploring diversified security models to meet the needs of various consumer chains, while providing more value capture opportunities for the ATOM token. This diversification strategy reflects the blockchain ecosystem's pursuit of more flexible and efficient security solutions.

As the discussion deepens, the Cosmos ecosystem may form a comprehensive system that includes various security solutions, providing suitable options for projects of different sizes and needs. This benefits the expansion of the Cosmos ecosystem and also provides valuable references for the innovation of security models across the entire blockchain industry.