Building the NOW of Cosmos Hub in Africa

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A Major Leap for Cosmos Technologies, the Hub, and ATOM Adoption, Expansion, and Ecosystem Growth in Africa.

Hello Cosmonaut,

I’m excited to share an incredible milestone we’ve just completed, a strategic initiative aimed at expanding Cosmos and The Hub in Africa, with a focus on developer onboarding, Hub growth and expansion, and ATOM adoption in Africa.

Over the past few months, we executed a full-scale community activation program in Nigeria, with the goal of nurturing local talent, driving innovation, and building sustainable developer communities focused on the Cosmos stack. What began as a bold idea to onboard 200 developers became something much bigger, proudly supported by ATOM Accelerator.

tl;dr

:bullseye: Program Overview: A 3-Phase Execution Plan

:white_check_mark: Phase 1: Developer Activation and IRL Workshops

  • Cosmos’s first-ever IRL events were delivered in major cities including Lagos, Abuja, Enugu, Kaduna, Kano, and Akwa Ibom. Event Videos Highlight: [url=https:// x. com/CosmoshubAfrica/status/1882408492683886969]Lagos[/url], [url=https: //x. com/CosmoshubAfrica/status/1888194566987067441]Abuja[/url] and [url=https:// x. com/CosmoshubAfrica/status/1885981208267416035]Kano[/url]

  • Hands-on experience on Cosmos Technologies - Building with Cosmos SDK, CosmWasm, and ICS.

  • Deep dive into AEZ (ATOM Economic Zone) opportunities

  • Over 500+ total attendees, including developers, creatives, and cosmonauts

:white_check_mark: Phase 2: Mentorship Program

  • Project ideation, architecture support, and market validation

  • Each team paired with experienced Cosmos Tech Stack mentors

:white_check_mark: Phase 3: Naija HackAtom

  • 50+ project submissions across DeFi, NFTs, AI, Tools/Infrastructure, Social/Community, Freelance/Work, Privacy, Gaming and more

  • 18 finalists, with 7 winners, now exploring incubation and accelerator programs

[url=https ://x. com/CosmoshubAfrica/status/1911848725665743303]Project Submission Highlight[/url]

:trophy: First Place: [url=https ://dorahacks.io/buidl/24414]Beep[/url]

Beep is a custodial cosmos wallet that allows users to access cosmos chains without access to the Internet using USSD. - Beep provides fiat on-ramping and off-ramping using on-chain intents and solvers. - Users can convert Nigerian naira (NGN) to ATOM and can be extended to support IBC enabled tokens.

ATOM use cases:

  • Brings real-world utility by bridging fiat (Naira) to tATOM, giving ATOM actual monetary entry points in Nigeria — a huge, underbanked population.
  • Encourages onboarding of new users to the Hub via tATOM.
  • Makes ATOM more globally accessible, which is in line with the Hub’s goal of democratizing access to DeFi and decentralized infrastructure.

:2nd_place_medal: Second Place: [url=https ://dorahacks.io/buidl/24251]Padi[/url]

Padi is a permissionless crowd funding platform. - It enables anyone to raise funding from for any cause. Users can create a funding rally on Padi, share links to the donation and get support from the crowd funded via ATOM.

ATOM use cases:

  • Padi is built using CosmWasm contracts, currently deployed on Neutron, and can be deployed on any IBC chain with support for CosmWasm.
  • Promotes community funding and decentralized fundraising, a key aspect of growing grassroots projects powered by ATOM.
  • Helps highlight Neutron as a chain for dApps, and ATOM utility.

:3rd_place_medal: Third Place: [url=https ://dorahacks.io/buidl/24504]ATwork[/url]

ATwork @atwork1_ is a next-generation decentralized freelancing platform powered by ATOM, designed to transform how businesses and freelancers collaborate in a trustless, transparent, and efficient environment.

ATOM use cases:

  • Practical Web3 job marketplace built on Cosmos — adds economic utility powered by ATOM.
  • Encourages cross-border, decentralized work while keeping it trustless and transparent.
  • Drives user adoption from freelancers and businesses into the Cosmos ecosystem.

Others

:bank: DeFi (Decentralized Finance)

  • Tradi—Confidential analytics platform for traders using AI on Secret Network (DeFi, AI, Privacy).
  • LendPro—Lending protocol for financial cooperatives on blockchain (DeFi, DAO).
  • VaultQuest—No-loss prize-saving protocol (DeFi, gamified finance).
  • Woof.Fun—Bonding curve-based cw20 token platform, inspired by Pump.Fun (DeFi, Meme/Token Economy).

:framed_picture: NFTs / Creator Economy

  • Neutron NFTLaunch Agent—NFT platform with AI and security layers (NFT, AI).
  • NFTLaunch Agent (Chihuahua)—Similar NFT-focused platform with AI insights (NFT, AI).
  • Prompt Hub—Marketplace for AI-generated prompts (AI, creator tools, NFTs optional).

:brain: AI-Powered Platforms

  • Secret AI Writer—Privacy-first AI writing platform (AI, Privacy).
  • Prompt Hub—AI prompt marketplace (AI, Creator Economy).
  • Jarvis AI—Voice-controlled cloud resource manager (AI, DevOps/Infrastructure).
  • Delegated Staking Agent (DSA)—Integrates Secret AI SDK for governance & staking behavior tracking (AI, Governance, Privacy).

The Value We’ve Delivered to Cosmos Hub & ATOM

:small_blue_diamond: Massive Ecosystem Onboarding

  • 2.5x our original developer activation goal

  • Over 50 teams building with Cosmos-native tools

:small_blue_diamond: Real Use Cases for Real Needs. Many teams focused on local market challenges like

  • Mobile-first DeFi solutions

  • On-chain identity and cooperatives

  • Social/Community

  • These projects drive new ATOM integrations and usage in high-growth regions

:small_blue_diamond: Community Infrastructure

  • We’ve kickstarted 6+ local Cosmos developer communities

  • Providing the foundation for a sustained grassroots ecosystem in Africa

:small_blue_diamond: Direct Pipeline to Cosmos Hub

  • Winning projects are ready for continued incubation and accelerator programs

  • Several are already exploring testnet-mainnet deployment

:chart_increasing: Why This Matters for the Cosmos, Hub and ATOM Community

This program proves that with the right support, Cosmos, The Hub, and ATOM are the ideal ecosystem for Africa.

The modularity of the Cosmos SDK, the Hub, the power of IBC, and the ethos of sovereignty deeply resonate with African developers, creatives, and entrepreneurs building for real-world problems. Through this initiative, we’ve not only unlocked new talent —we’ve unlocked new markets, new use cases, and new demand for ATOM.

:pushpin: What’s Next?

  • Expansion and ecosystem development strategy for Africa, focused on growing adoption through education, local innovation, community building, and strategic partnerships—laying the groundwork for a long-term presence and impact on the continent.

  • We’re preparing project submissions for grants and incubation with a full impact report in the works to document results, use cases, and testimonials

  • Plans are underway to replicate this model across Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, and South Africa

A huge thank you to the Atom Accelerator DAO, our judges, ecosystem partners, and everyone who believed in this vision. What we’ve started here isn’t just an initiative— it’s a ATOM Aligned!

Africa is not just the future of blockchain. With Cosmos, we’re building the NOW.

With interchain love,
Popeblack
Founder, Cosmos Hub Africa

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The just concluded hackathon was a smooth one from having cool and amazing project in participation and finally having some of them emerges as winners
Kudos to the brain behind the team
:clap::clap::clap:

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