CosmWasm

Smart Contract Standard

Rust-based smart contract platform for Cosmos SDK blockchains, compiling contracts to WebAssembly (Wasm) for near-native execution speed, with actor-model architecture that prevents reentrancy attacks by design.

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Details

License https://github.com/CosmWasm/cosmwasm
Dev Status 🟢 Active
Dev Status Detail Active (maintained by Hadron Labs through Dec 2027 per ICF agreement)
Owner Originally Confio GmbH; maintenance transferred to Hadron Labs (2025) under Interchain Foundation funding
Governing Body Company-controlled (Hadron Labs — maintenance transferred 2025 from Confio GmbH) | Interchain Foundation (funding and ecosystem stewardship)
Country Germany (Confio) / Global
Start Year 2019
Stack Rust (contract authoring); Go (Cosmos SDK integration via wasmd module); WebAssembly (compilation target)
Funding Interchain Foundation (ICF): $2.5M allocated to Confio for 2024; Hadron Labs funded through Dec 2027 by ICF; earlier ICF grants to Confio from 2020 onward
Funding - List
  • Interchain Foundation
Last Investigated Mar 9, 2026

Topology view

This tool in the centre and the things it is directly related to. Each line names the kind of relationship.

Topology view: CosmWasmThis tool in the centre and the things it is directly related to. Each line names the kind of relationship.CosmWasmink! (Basis for)ink!Cosmos SDK (Built on)Cosmos SDKEthereum (Built on)EthereumInterchain Foundation (Funded by)InterchainFoundation
  • ink! (Tool): Basis for
  • Cosmos SDK (Tool): Built on
  • Ethereum (Tool): Built on
  • Interchain Foundation (Organization): Funded by

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Use Case Domains

Platform Evolution & Sovereignty

Affordances

Self-hostable

Smart Contract Standard Attributes

Origins Prototyped at HackAtom Berlin 2019 by Team Gaians (Aaron Craelius, Jehan Tremback, Ethan Frey); Interchain Foundation grant to Confio GmbH funded production implementation; designed to bring secure smart contracts to Cosmos SDK chains without EVM.
Data Formats JSON for contract messages (ExecuteMsg, QueryMsg, InstantiateMsg schemas); binary Wasm bytecode; IBC packet data; CW-20 and CW-721 JSON token schemas
Terms Apache 2.0
Funding - List
  • Interchain Foundation
Funds $2.5M (ICF to Confio, 2024); ongoing ICF grant to Hadron Labs through 2027 (amount undisclosed)
Based On CosmWasm is original to the Cosmos ecosystem; informed by Ethereum/Solidity design lessons (reentrancy prevention); actor model influenced by Erlang/Elixir patterns
Permissions Permissioned instantiation (chain governance controls which code IDs may be instantiated); permissionless on chains that enable open deployment
Development Tools cargo (Rust build tool); cosmwasm-check CLI; CosmJS (JavaScript client library); wasmd (reference chain binary); cw-multi-test (integration testing framework); drink! (local testing)
Protocol Maturity / Standardization Production-grade; used in 30+ Cosmos app chains including Neutron, Osmosis, and Juno; IBC-integrated; ongoing active development
Trust Framework IBC light client verification for cross-chain calls; contract admin key for upgrades; instantiation permission flags (admin-only vs open); no built-in reputation layer
Target Application Domain DeFi (AMMs, lending, stablecoins), cross-chain interoperability, DAO governance, NFTs (CW-721), liquid staking, civic coordination tools
Deployment Model Code stored on-chain via wasmd; contracts instantiated per use case; a single code ID may have multiple contract instances
Standard Type Composability Standard (smart contract platform / framework)
Ecosystem Cosmos

Relationships

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Built on
Funded by
  • Interchain Foundation
Basis for