Behind every revolution is a maverick who dares to challenge the status quo, experience the world differently, and dare to dream the impossible. In the crypto realm, one such maverick is Sunny Aggarwal, the co-founder of the Cosmos-based project called Osmosis.

In a recent conversation on the Crypto Pragmatist podcast, Sunny shed light on Osmosis, the vision of Cosmos, and the essential role decentralized exchanges (DEXs) could play in the future of crypto.

A Maverick’s Journey in Crypto

Coming from a background in computer science and political economy, Sunny was fascinated by Bitcoin’s revolutionary capability to combine tech brilliance with socio-economic change. As a firm believer in the power of human coordination systems, he found himself drawn towards the consensus mechanisms in blockchain technology.

His journey in the crypto space began with an internship at Consensus, an Ethereum-based developer company. Yet, his passion for proof-of-stake and his concerns around Ethereum led him to Cosmos, a network he believed could solve his issues with Ethereum while also aligning with his political-economic orientation.

Embracing the Cosmos

In Sunny's opinion, the Cosmos SDK offered the chance for every community to have its individualized blockchain and economic system, all of which could interconnect via Cosmos. Unlike Ethereum’s global computer ideology, Cosmos’s localized system allowed for experimentation, which resonated with Sunny's "pro-localist" values and the vision for enabling multiple parallel experiments to see what worked.

Seeing Cosmos as a synthesis of both the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks, Sunny discussed the role of Cosmos in helping bootstrap the Ethereum ecosystem. However, he cautioned that execution speed needs improvement in order for Cosmos to truly stand out in an increasingly competitive blockchain space.

Introducing Osmosis

The creation of Osmosis came about from Sunny's desire to leverage his co-founder’s love for cryptography and to solve the little-addressed crypto privacy issue. Given their ready product-market fit within crypto, Sunny considered exchanges as the ideal product type for successfully launching Osmosis.

Osmosis was developed with the intention of not just creating a decentralized exchange but also creating a better UX and integration of fiat on-ramps. With the belief in offering an unbeatable user experience, Sunny suggested that Osmosis aims to become users' first experience with crypto instead of Coinbase.

The Future of Osmosis and Atom

Reflecting on the concerns surrounding DEXs, Sunny noted that while the transition from traditional centralized exchanges (CEXs) to DEXs might be inevitable, efforts must be made to ensure the entire system is fully decentralized, from user interfaces to data indexers.

Sunny displayed great enthusiasm for Atom, Cosmos's native token, despite being born out of an app chain like Osmosis. He expressed optimism for Atom's future, speculating that it could become a top-three token in the crypto ecosystem with the right efforts.

Conclusion

Sunny Aggarwal's insights serve as a testament to the transformative potential held within the crypto sphere, particularly through projects like Cosmos and Osmosis. As crypto continues to evolve in this dynamic landscape, it's clear that the focus must be on enhancing user experience, improving decentralization, and manifesting visions that challenge the boundaries of the traditional financial realm. The journey towards a more decentralized financial world is well and truly underway!

Watch the full interview here.