As part of the overhauled ICF ATOM delegation program announced in February, we are opening applications for the Ecosystem Growth Delegations tranche today.
This is the application-only side of the program. It is separate from the default delegations tranche, which is allocated automatically based on on-chain criteria. Ecosystem Growth Delegations are negotiated individually, governed by a written agreement between the recipient and the ICF, and reserved for work that addresses a concrete, near-term ecosystem need.
Application: https://cosmos.fillout.com/icfdelegations
What this program is for
Ecosystem Growth Delegations are not a general validator support program. They are not a way to recognize past contributions, and they are not a substitute for a grant. They are a mechanism for the ICF and Cosmos Labs to direct ATOM toward specific, forward-looking work where a clear deliverable is on the table.
The bar is high. Delegations under this tranche come out of the default tranche pro-rata, so every approval reduces what the rest of the active set receives. Priority goes to proposals that are specific, scoped, and tied to outcomes we can measure within a quarter or two.
What to expect after you apply
Applications go to the Cosmos Labs Ecosystem Team for initial review. Within a reasonable window, we will come back with one of three responses: a decline, a request for more information, or a green light to move into the agreement phase. Please allow 1-2 weeks for us to process your application, depending on volume.
Approved applicants enter into a written delegation agreement directly with the Interchain Foundation, with a scope-of-services appendix that lays out the deliverables and the delegation amount. Larger or non-standard agreements take longer to process than smaller ones.
Applicants who are not currently in the active set should expect a separate KYC step. Active-set validators are already covered by our ongoing compliance monitoring; new entrants without an address history are not.
Delegations are adjusted on a quarterly cadence. Agreements signed mid-quarter will generally take effect at the next adjustment.
How to apply
The form is here: https://cosmos.fillout.com/icfdelegations
It asks for team background, a detailed scope of work, the milestones and timeline you are committing to, the delegation amount you are proposing, and the connection between your work and value to the Hub or ATOM. Come prepared. Vague applications, or applications that read as a request for general support rather than a proposal for specific work, will be declined.
What’s in scope
This initial intake runs as an open RFP. Feel free to submit an application for anything that aligns with the guidelines set forth above.
First targeted RFP: IBC transfer analytics APIs
The ecosystem has been without a reliable, well-maintained IBC analytics feed since Map of Zones wound down its public APIs. The IBC entry on DeFiLlama currently reports roughly $2.25M of 30-day bridge volume, which materially understates real activity and gives external observers a distorted view of the network. We want this fixed.
We are soliciting proposals to build and operate a set of APIs that track IBC transfer activity across the Cosmos ecosystem and that can serve as the upstream data source for DeFiLlama and other ecosystem dashboards.
Required scope
At minimum, the APIs should expose:
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Transfer volume in USD and tokens across the top 30 or more Cosmos chains by activity, broken down by source chain, destination chain, and channel, over rolling 24-hour, 7-day, and 30-day windows, with cumulative totals available as well.
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Volume broken down by asset denomination, with full IBC denom trace resolution so that the same asset routed through different channels is correctly identified.
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Transfer counts and unique active addresses on a daily and monthly basis (DAU and MAU), both in aggregate and per-chain.
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Daily time-series for each of the above, with sufficient history to reconstruct multi-month trends.
Bonus consideration will be given to proposals that include IBCv2 traffic. As IBC expands to Ethereum, Solana, and other non-Cosmos chains, the analytics layer needs to keep pace.
Operational requirements
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Documented REST or GraphQL endpoints.
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Data freshness within one hour of finality, and a documented uptime target.
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Stable response schemas, versioned to avoid breaking downstream integrators.
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A direct integration with DeFiLlama as part of the deliverable, so that the public IBC page reflects accurate volume from launch.
What we are looking for in proposals
Teams with prior indexing experience on Cosmos chains, or teams that have previously contributed to IBC analytics tooling, are particularly well suited to this work. We want a clear technical architecture, a realistic timeline with milestones (e.g., schema and initial data backfill, public API beta, DeFiLlama integration, full production), and a budget that maps to a delegation amount under the standard agreement terms described above. Proposals that include a maintenance and incident response commitment beyond initial delivery will be weighted accordingly.
To apply for this RFP specifically, submit the standard application form and reference “IBC transfer analytics” in the project description. The application process and timelines are the same as for the open intake.
For full context on the broader delegation program redesign and how this tranche fits into it, read the ICF’s announcement: https://medium.com/the-interchain-foundation/the-interchain-foundation-icf-is-rolling-out-an-overhaul-of-its-atom-delegation-program-c2a65fe79b6c
