Cosmos project Neutron acquires 25% stake in CosmWasm developer Confio

By Vishal Chawla • Edited by Adam James
Deals•December 5, 2023, 9:01AM EST
UPDATED: December 5, 2023, 9:35AM EST
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Cosmos project Neutron acquires 25% stake in CosmWasm developer Confio

Quick Take

  • Neutron acquired a 25% stake in Confio, the developer of programming environment CosmWasm.
  • This investment will be used to drive CosmWasm adoption and bring technological improvements.
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Cosmos-based smart contracts platform Neutron acquired a 25% stake in Confio, the software company known for developing CosmWasm. This investment and strategic collaboration are aimed at increasing CosmWasm adoption and aligning the development strategies of Neutron and Confio. Neutron did not disclose the investment amount.
 
CosmWasm is the default virtual machine for Cosmos-based blockchains like Neutron and Osmosis, enabling them to operate smart contracts. 

The investment's planned use is to drive the adoption of CosmWasm and bring technological improvements in close collaboration with Neutron. It will focus on key web3 areas, such as zero-knowledge proofs for scaling and privacy, according to Neutron. "Long term, we plan to collaborate on more advanced features to bring to Neutron’s VM, including native zero-knowledge verification so that privacy and rollup projects can leverage zk technology," Avril Dutheil, core contributor of Neutron, told The Block.

According to Neutron, the objective is to position CosmWasm as a competitive alternative to programming environments like the Ethereum Virtual Machine.

For Neutron, this marks another milestone on its roadmap since its mainnet launch, which initiated alongside the adoption of Cosmos Hub’s replicated security.

In June 2023, Neutron raised $10 million in a seed funding round led by venture firms Binance Labs and CoinFund at an undisclosed valuation. Currently, the blockchain project is valued at over $670 million.