Here's why i feel bullish on Cosmos (ATOM)
Inter-Blockchain Communication protocol (IBC).
IBC is an interoperability protocol for communicating arbitrary data between arbitrary state machines.
It provides an end-to-end, connection-oriented, stateful protocol for reliable, ordered, and authenticated communication between heterogeneous blockchains or off-chain protocols (rollups), and can accomodate for both known and dynamic validator topologies.
IBC can be used to build a wide range of cross-chain applications, including but not limited to token transfers, interchain accounts (delegate calls between two chains), non-fungible token transfers and oracle data feeds.
Cosmos proposes a modular architecture with two classes of blockchain Hubs and Zones. Zones are regular heterogenous blockchains and Hubs are blockchains specifically designed to connect Zones together. When a Zone creates an IBC connection with a Hub, it can automatically access (i.e. send to and receive from) every other Zone that is connected to it. As a result, each Zone only needs to establish a limited number of connections with a restricted set of Hubs. Hubs also prevent double spending among Zones. This means that when a Zone receives a token from a Hub, it only needs to trust the origin Zone of this token and the Hub.
The first Hub launched in the Cosmos Network is the Cosmos Hub. The Cosmos Hub is a public Proof-of-Stake blockchain whose native staking token is called the ATOM, and where transactions fees will be payable in multiple tokens.
So! on 2022 Cosmos Hub will grow much further with so much DeFi that being build in.
1. Terra (LUNA) is being build on Cosmos (ATOM).
2. Osmosis (OSMO) will be releasing its version of Liquid Staking, called Superfluid Staking, in the coming months.
3. There will be Evmos "EVM-on-Cosmos" (previously known as Ethermint). Evmos aims to be the EVM hub of Cosmos, making it easy for EVM smart contracts to deploy and communicate within the Cosmos ecosystem. Already in incentivized testnet, EVM compatibility will land in Cosmos in January 2022.
4. Also keep an eye on Umee in 2022, the first DeFi protocol to offer infrastructure for cross-chain interactions.