Nebulas is a next generation public blockchain, aiming for a continuously improving ecosystem. Based on its blockchain valuation mechanism, Nebulas proposes future-oriented incentive and consensus systems, and the ability to self-evolve without forking. Many in the crypto community are referring to Nebulas as “the new Google”. While the two are similar in a sense, they hold different use cases. Google is intended for day to day internet information searches, while Nebulas focuses on searches among decentralized applications (DApps), smart contracts, and user’s blockchain assets. Nebulas is being built on a decentralized search framework with open-source algorithms, verifiable computing, and distributed data stores.” Nebulas has three core features of its tech such as Nebulas Rank (NR), it is an Open source, core ranking algorithm based on “liquidity, propagation of users’ assets, and the interactivity between users.” and Nebulas Force (NF): “Nebulas Force (NF) provides the Nebulas blockchain & its distributed applications built on top, the capability to self-evolve”. Nebulas’s official website shows an international team of 14 core members, including Hitters Xu, founder and CEO of Nebulas (who also happens to be the founder of AntShares, now known as NEO). Xu is considered a pioneer in the blockchain industry, founding BitsClub (the very first Blockchain/Bitcoin community in China) in 2013 as well as popular ICO platform ICO 365. He also founded the crypto funds firm, FBG capital. On top of that, he directed an Alibaba financial arm (Ant Financial’s Blockchain Platform) and aided Google’s Search & Anti-Fraud team.
The Cosmos network consists of many independent, parallel blockchains, called zones, each powered by classical Byzantine fault-tolerant (BFT) consensus protocols like Tendermint (already used by platforms like ErisDB). Some zones act as hubs with respect to other zones, allowing many zones to interoperate through a shared hub. The architecture is a more general application of the Bitcoin sidechains concept, using classic BFT and Proof-of-Stake algorithms, instead of Proof-of-Work.Cosmos can interoperate with multiple other applications and cryptocurrencies, something other blockchains can’t do well. By creating a new zone, you can plug any blockchain system into the Cosmos hub and pass tokens back and forth between those zones, without the need for an intermediary. While the Cosmos Hub is a multi-asset distributed ledger, there is a special native token called the atom. Atoms have three use cases: as a spam-prevention mechanism, as staking tokens, and as a voting mechanism in governance. As a spam prevention mechanism, Atoms are used to pay fees. The fee may be proportional to the amount of computation required by the transaction, similar to Ethereum’s concept of “gas”. Fee distribution is done in-protocol and a protocol specification is described here. As staking tokens, Atoms can be “bonded” in order to earn block rewards. The economic security of the Cosmos Hub is a function of the amount of Atoms staked. The more Atoms that are collateralized, the more “skin” there is at stake and the higher the cost of attacking the network. Thus, the more Atoms there are bonded, the greater the economic security of the network. Atom holders may govern the Cosmos Hub by voting on proposals with their staked Atoms.