Overview
Gravity Bridge is an open, decentralized bridge that unlocks the power of interoperability & liquidity between blockchains, between Ethereum and Cosmos-based blockchains.
- Gravity Bridge is built using the Tendermint & Cosmos SDK.
- The Gravity module is a module built on Cosmos SDK. The orchestrator program is run by Cosmos validators alongside the Cosmos blockchain's code.
- Graviton (GRAV) is the Gravity Bridge native token.
Gravity Bridge at a glance
The Cosmos Gravity Bridge is a non-custodial and decentralized neutral Cosmos blockchain with a primary purpose to secure the operation of bridges between Cosmos-based chains and other L1 blockchain ecosystems, starting with Ethereum.
The Gravity Bridge will allow the flow of ERC20 assets from Ethereum into Cosmos and interact with applications i.e. Akash Network, Sentinel, and Osmosis, as well as the flow of Cosmos assets to Ethereum ERC20 applications. This means that ATOMs and any other asset in the Cosmos ecosystem to trade on Uniswap, on other Ethereum AMMs, and interact with Ethereum DeFi like any ERC20 token.
Mainnet was launched Dec 13, 2021 with over 100 validators. The project started with a Cosmos whitepaper written in 2016 for “Peggy” - the initial idea of an Ethereum to Cosmos bridge. By 2020, it evolved into “Peggy JV” by Althea and the Iqlusion team. The code for the bridge is open-sourced and shared work between many different teams with a common vision of an interconnected Cosmos-verse with access to stablecoins and liquidity of the Ethereum ecosystem.
Gravity Bridge (GRAVITON) token
The Graviton token is Gravity Bridge’s native utility token with an initial genesis supply of 2.2B GRAV that have primary uses for:
- Staking of GRAV tokens to help secure the bridge, and as inflationary rewards for their stakes.
Related: What is a token and how is it used in crypto?
Proof-of-Stake (PoS) GRAVITON staking
Validators such as ourselves at Stakewith.us (and builders behind Unagii) operate nodes responsible for Gravity Bridge operations for securing the bridge and will earn staking rewards via transaction fees and distributed GRAVITON tokens as incentives. Delegators (or users of Unagii) can help participate and secure the bridge with their votes by delegating their stakes to us on the Unagii platform to receive a portion of the rewards that validators receive.
Staking GRAVITON allows Unagii users to earn yield from rewards as an incentive to stake and provide security, which comes from transaction fees collected by Gravity Bridge plus distributed tokens to stakers due to their inflationary rewards policy. The inflation will be 20% as a starting rate and trend towards 7% if the staked ratio is more than 66%, and trend towards 20% if the staked ratio is less than 66%. Rewards are paid out on a per block basis and users can choose to withdraw or compound accumulated rewards.
Note that staking risks do apply, including slashing risks upon validator downtime and double-signing. There is also a 21 day unbonding period for users when unstaking GRAVITON from the network. During this period, users will not be able to withdraw and earn rewards.
Related: Staking coins: What is staking and how does it work?
How to stake GRAVITON?
Staking GRAVITON on Unagii is simple and convenient.
- Head to app.unagii.com/stake/gbridge
- Connect your wallet
- Stake GRAVITON
- Approve and confirm transaction (gas fee payable)
View more info: Stakewith.us validator details
