The Cosmos community has initiated a comprehensive effort to rework ATOM’s foundational tokenomics, launching a multi-phase research initiative intended to replace the existing model with a structure anchored in measurable revenue rather than circular or scarcity-driven mechanisms. This redesign is meant to tie inflation and token supply dynamics directly to real fee generation across the Cosmos Stack, establishing an adaptive framework that aligns more closely with market behavior.
The initiative has entered its first formal stage with a structured plan that outlines how external researchers, community members, and governance participants will collectively determine ATOM’s long-term economic direction. Organizers explained that the overarching goal is to build a model rooted in verifiable revenue streams rather than concepts dependent on speculative assumptions. The framework is also intended to separate foundational economics from optional features that may be layered on in the future.
A Five-Stage Roadmap for Reinventing ATOM
The redesign process has been organized around five major stages: Request for Proposals, Research Team Selection, Information Gathering, Research Results and Analysis, and Governance. Project coordinators emphasized that the forthcoming model must be built on core economic principles rather than on enhancements or mechanisms that mask structural weaknesses.
Ahead of launching the formal process, Cosmos stakeholders held broad community discussions to outline concerns and collect early feedback. Thousands of messages circulated through an open Telegram working group, reflecting substantial interest in rethinking ATOM’s economic design. Participants shared ideas that included easing inflation gradually, recalibrating staking rewards to benefit long-term participants, and enhancing ATOM’s positioning as a unified settlement and reserve asset within the Cosmos ecosystem.
Organizers noted that early conversations also highlighted a recurring issue: many community proposals tended to focus on operational mechanisms rather than on the fundamental economics underlying the asset. Ideas such as buy-and-burn programs or reward escalation structures were frequently mentioned, but the team argued that these components should only be considered after the foundational model is clearly defined.
The Cosmos community has released a proposal to start researching and gathering ideas for a new tokenomics model for ATOM. The core model should be revenue/fee-based. Key ideas include:
– Gradually increasing staking rewards to favor long-term stakers
– Reducing inflation
-…— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) November 26, 2025
Revenue-Centered Research Requirements
To address this gap, the upcoming Request for Proposals will require participating research teams to concentrate specifically on revenue-based token models. Organizers suggested that fee sources could potentially come from enterprise-grade use of the Cosmos Stack or from services and applications operating on the network. They pointed to Osmosis as an example of a system where protocol-level fees form the core economic base, while burn mechanisms or reward redirects operate as optional extensions. A similar philosophical approach is being recommended for ATOM.
The Request for Proposals will be published on the Cosmos Hub forum for public review and simultaneously distributed to research firms specializing in blockchain economics. Submissions will be collected privately before being posted publicly, a measure intended to ensure fairness across all applicants. Research firms will be given approximately three weeks to submit their proposals.
Community Engagement and Next Steps
Once proposals are submitted, validators and community members are encouraged to participate actively by evaluating submissions, joining calls, and offering feedback through the forum. The Research Team Selection phase will consider factors such as relevant experience, methodological rigor, cost structure, and existing familiarity with Cosmos technology.
After the selection process, research teams will move into the information-gathering stage. This will include interviews with validators, ATOM holders, developers, and ecosystem partners, as well as detailed assessments of the current emissions model. Researchers will also map stakeholder dependencies and simulate alternative system designs to test potential outcomes. Early findings will be presented publicly for community review.
Draft reports from each firm will then be consolidated into a unified framework that captures the strongest research components. Once refined, the final model will undergo a governance review cycle, with an on-chain vote determining whether the redesigned tokenomics will be adopted.