What is Cosmos in my own words and which wallets are good for ATOM

What is Cosmos?

Cosmos is an ecosystem of connected blockchains or 'the internet of blockchains'. It is the TCP/IP of web3. A truly decentralized communication protocol. Cosmos hub is the first hub and blockchain in that ecosystem. ATOM is the main token of the Cosmos hub. It is used to help secure the network, transact, participate in governance and can be staked to receive rewards.

Cosmos is an interoperable blockchain protocol that facilitates the transfer of data between existing chains. It operates via a hub-and-spoke model that leverages the design elements of other chains to enable cross-chain interaction. The Cosmos framework features a Byzantine Fault-Tolerant (BFT) consensus algorithm developed by Tendermint to secure the protocol.

In simpler words, with Cosmos you can transfer any data, not just tokens. Think of a big complicated Excel table, not one table, but many. Think of macros. Remember when you had to connect one Excel table to another, and then everytime you made changes in one cell, the data would change accordingly in the other tables? Pretty much the same thing works here. But, using blockchain technology, a trsutless setup and a consensus protocol that makes sure everything is secure and works as per planned.

Often the Cosmos ecosystem, Cosmos hub, Cosmos-SDK, ATOM and Tendermint are mixed and confused. Cosmos is the overall name for everything described above. The technology. It is also the name of the first hub and blockchain using that technology. Cosmos-SDK is the toolkit that allows anyone to build blockchains easily out of the box. Tendermint is the engine that makes it all work under the hood and ATOM is the token of the Cosmos hub, not the whole ecosystem(!). There are many chains in the ecosystem, and they all 'talk' to each other via IBC, each has its own token/s and can have other chains connected to it, hence, making it a hub too.

If you want to learn more, we recommend to start here.

A list of Cosmos wallets

The best way to store ATOM, or in fact, any other token, is using a hardware device like Ledger or Trezor. We understand that not everyone has the ability to purchase those. We still, however, strongly encourage this. A device like this costs between 50-200 USD and if your crypto holdings exceed this sum, it makes sense to secure your holdings via this method offering an extra level of security. Please, purchase hardware devices only from verified vendors and official re-sellers! A list of these can always be found on the official website of the device manufacturers.

You can always find a community maintained list of Cosmos wallets here. If you don't have a Ledger, the easiest wallet to use is the Keplr extension on your desktop, or Cosmostation on your mobile device (can also be used for desktop). Save your seed on paper and backup your login password twice. Do not store your seed online!

If you do have a Ledger, then Cosmostation is your best pick, just connect your device and start using it.

Staking ATOM

Of course, the big idea with ATOM, is to earn passive income while helping to secure the network. I am a bit biased on this, as we run a validator business. And, of course, it is best to pick the validators that you think are best suited for yourself . If you are interested feel free to check out Citizen Cosmos and our staking guides.