AtomOne ICS Restake Chains

Pulsar’s consensus is amazing thanks to the giants that hold it on their shoulders. However, the blockchain ecosystem clearly does not need a new token, and launching a token for Pulsar, that is clearly an improvement to the existing blockchain ecosystem rather than a whole new approach, would be a catastrophe.

There is nothing wrong with tokens and proper economical security, but not all solutions generate enough revenue for a fully independent validator set. The Mina usage of Pulsar is already optimal, since Pulsar can already make use of Mina’s computation environment in return for some modest gas fees. However, the CosmosSDK component of Pulsar requires an economical security token to work.

So Pulsar needs to have its own token to enable this cut of the edge technology?

Luckily, no.

Interchain Security (ICS - or restake as a more well known name) allows chains on IBC to borrow each other’s economical security. Instead of launching a fully new token, a chain on IBC can be added to the validator set of an existing one, duplicating their security for a fully new purpose.

In Pulsar, we use ICS over AtomOne to enable exactly this. AtomOne validators run Pulsar as a separate chain, without having an additional stake. Any improper action on Pulsar is slashed on AtomOne validator set through an evidence TX over IBC.

Using this design, Pulsar becomes a cross-chain layer more than a blockchain. In Pulsar; ATONE, PHOTON and MINA tokens are all available, as well as any other public IBC token (such as USDC). However, Pulsar’s security does not require an additional token on its own, and so all of the revenue that is generated by Pulsar power directly its base chains and ecosystems.