ATOM is the native token of the Cosmos Hub, a single proof-of-stake blockchain inside the wider Cosmos network of connected chains. It does not represent "all of Cosmos". The Cosmos Hub documentation describes it as the Hub's primary token. Holders delegate ATOM to validators to secure the chain and earn newly minted ATOM, and they use it to vote on on-chain governance proposals. As of 25 October 2026 the Hub's live parameters set inflation between 7% and 10%, with no fixed maximum supply, and a 21-day unbonding period. Hub governance is voting on the Gaia v29.0.0 upgrade until 27 October 2026.
What changed most recently (October 2026)
Gaia v29.0.0 upgrade vote, ends 27 October 2026
Proposal 1059, submitted on 20 October 2026, schedules a coordinated, state-breaking upgrade to Gaia v29.0.0 at block height 33,618,500. Gaia is the Hub's node software, and its binary is gaiad. According to the proposal, the release:
- removes the
x/paramsmodule, which ends the legacyParameterChangeProposalroute; - updates the Cosmos SDK from v0.53.4 to v0.53.8;
- moves the Go toolchain from 1.25 to 1.26.
Voting closes at 12:01 UTC on 27 October 2026. The upgrade takes effect only if the proposal passes and the chain reaches that height. The proposal gives no calendar date.
Recovered ATOM from the Neutron exploit, Proposal 1058 (passed 12 October 2026)
On 22 September 2026, Neutron, a separate chain connected to the Hub, was attacked through its own governance. Proposal 1058 states that the attacker passed a Neutron proposal using stake bought for about 20,199 USDC. That proposal gave the attacker control of 11 Neutron contracts. About 1,723,180 ATOM was then moved to an address on the Hub. Most of it came from the Drop dATOM-to-ATOM converter (about 1,589,712 ATOM).
The Hub's response, as described in the proposal and in a Cosmos Labs update reported by CryptoSlate:
- Validators halted the Hub at block 33,086,740.
- On 23 September 2026 the Hub restarted on Gaia v28.3.0 with a one-time state change. It moved the 1,227,121.37 ATOM still on the attacker's address to a 4-of-6 recovery multisig held by six validator and infrastructure operators. No other account, balance or delegation was touched.
- Cosmos Labs said the Hub itself was not attacked and Hub user funds were unaffected.
- Proposal 1058 is a text proposal. It authorizes the signers to send the recovered ATOM over IBC to a Neutron recovery multisig, and to no other address. It spends nothing from the community pool and changes no Hub parameter.
- Not recovered: about 496,000 ATOM sold before the halt, and a refund of 168,990 ATOM that reached the attacker after the restart.
The episode matters for ATOM holders for two reasons. The Hub's validators showed they can coordinate a halt and a targeted state change, and that choice drew debate. And the losses came from contracts on another chain that held ATOM, not from the Hub's own staking.
Interchain Security removed, Gaia v28.0.0 (passed 1 September 2026)
Proposal 1052 removed Interchain Security (ICS) from the Cosmos Hub. Under ICS, the Hub's validators had also secured "consumer" chains. The upgrade closed all IBC channels on the provider port and moved the consumer rewards pool balance to the community pool. It also set the staking module's validator limit to match the provider module's limit. The proposal says validators ranked below the new limit were moved to unbonding without jailing or slashing.
How ATOM works on the Hub
Staking and delegation
Validators run the nodes that produce blocks. The validator set is chosen by total stake, including stake that others delegate to them. The Hub's delegator FAQ says:
- Rewards come from block provisions (newly minted ATOM) and transaction fees.
- Validators take a commission before rewards reach delegators. On-chain, the minimum commission rate is 5%.
- Delegated ATOM shares the validator's slashing risk. If the validator misbehaves, delegated stake can be slashed too. Spreading stake across validators reduces that exposure.
- Redelegating to another validator takes effect immediately. Unbonding takes the full unbonding period.
Live staking and slashing parameters
These values come from the Hub's staking, slashing and mint modules, read on 25 October 2026:
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Unbonding time | 1,814,400 seconds (21 days) |
| Maximum active validators | 180 |
| Double-sign slash | 5% |
| Downtime slash | 0.01% |
| Downtime rule | jailed if it signs under 5% of the last 10,000 blocks |
| Downtime jail duration | 600 seconds |
| Minimum validator commission | 5% |
While ATOM is unbonding it earns no rewards and cannot be transferred. The 21 days begin when the unbond is submitted.
Supply and inflation
ATOM has no fixed maximum supply. New ATOM is minted every block to pay staking rewards. The mint module currently sets:
- minimum inflation of 7% and maximum of 10%;
- a target bonded ratio of 67%. Inflation rises when less than 67% of ATOM is staked and falls when more is staked;
- current inflation of 10%, the top of the range, as of 25 October 2026.
The 10% ceiling dates from Proposal 848, "ATOM Halving: Set the max. Inflation Rate to 10%". It passed on 25 November 2023 and lowered the maximum from 20%. The Hub's delegator FAQ still says inflation can rise "toward 20%". That text is out of date, and the on-chain parameter is 10%.
Because the minimum is 7%, supply grows every year under current rules. An ATOM holder who does not stake sees their share of total supply shrink over time.
Governance
Voting power is proportional to bonded ATOM. A delegator who does not vote inherits their validator's vote. A delegator who votes overrides it. Governance controls software upgrades (such as Gaia v28 and v29), parameter changes (such as Proposal 848) and community pool spending.
ATOM inflation limits before and after Proposal 848
How do the inflation limits compare before and after Proposal 848?
Data table
| Item | % | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Maximum before Proposal 848 | 20 | Source: Cosmos (ATOM) Review 2026: Tokenomics, Staking & Risks (coinbureau.com), accessed Oct 16, 2026 |
| Maximum after Proposal 848 | 10 | Source: Cosmos (ATOM) Review 2026: Tokenomics, Staking & Risks (coinbureau.com), accessed Oct 16, 2026 |
| Floor of current range | 7 | Source: Cosmos (ATOM) Review 2026: Tokenomics, Staking & Risks (coinbureau.com), accessed Oct 16, 2026 |
These are protocol limits as Coin Bureau reports them, not the live inflation rate.
The technology underneath
Consensus: CometBFT
The Hub runs on CometBFT, which its repository describes as "a fork and successor to Tendermint Core" that "implements the Tendermint consensus algorithm". It is a Byzantine fault-tolerant engine for replicating state across machines. A Hub node queried on 25 October 2026 reported gaia v28.3.0, Cosmos SDK v0.53.4 and CometBFT 0.38.22 on chain ID cosmoshub-4.
Connecting chains: IBC
The Inter-Blockchain Communication protocol (IBC) moves tokens and messages between independent chains. It arrived on the Hub with the Stargate upgrade in February 2021. Cross-chain token transfers needed a separate governance vote after that upgrade. The IBC specification repository describes two versions:
- IBC v1, the original, sets up communication through connection and channel handshakes before applications can send packets.
- IBC v2 removes those handshake layers "in favor of direct client-to-client packet flow".
The Neutron recovery shows IBC in daily use: the recovered ATOM is set to move from the Hub to Neutron over an IBC transfer channel.
Risks to understand
- Dilution: inflation of 7% to 10% a year means unstaked ATOM loses share of supply.
- Liquidity lock: 21 days of unbonding with no rewards and no transfers.
- Slashing: delegated ATOM can lose 5% if a validator double-signs, or 0.01% for downtime.
- Cross-chain exposure: ATOM held in contracts on other chains depends on those chains' security, as the September 2026 Neutron attack showed.
- Governance changes: any parameter in this article can be changed by a passed proposal.
Limitations: the parameters were read on 25 October 2026 and can change by governance vote. Figures for the Neutron incident come mainly from Proposal 1058's own text.
