There are several new proof-of-stake (PoS)-based cryptocurrency platforms that are expected to launch this year, Diar Newsletter has noted.

Blockchain interoperability platform, Cosmos, which also uses PoS as its consensus mechanism, saw its mainnet go live recently. According to Diar’s estimates, “over 80% of the validator slots picked up with the network” and there’s now more than $300 million that has been staked on Cosmos’ blockchain platform.

More Than $430 Million Staked On Dash’s Network

Notably, the total staked amount on the Cosmos network already places it in third position – with only Dash (DASH) and EOS having higher staked amounts. Currently, there are over $431 million staked on Dash’s mainnet while EOS, the world’s largest delegated proof-of-stake (DPoS)-based network, has over $1.8 billion currently staked on its platform, Diar’s data reveals.

The leading crypto newsletter service further notes that Cosmos’ initial coin offering (ICO), which was completed in 2017, managed to raise around $16 million. Last week, Cosmos released the first version of its software on its mainnet and already 40% of the platform’s native token, Atoms, have “been bonded to 82 of the 100 possible validators,” Diar’s post noted.

Cosmos’ Stakeholders To Decide Whether To Activate Intercommunication Blockchain Protocol

As explained in Diar’s blog, the number of validators on Cosmos’ platform may “reach a maximum of 300” during a 10-year period, however the blockchain network’s management could also decide to increase the number of block producers within this timeframe. In the next phase of Cosmos’ ongoing development, its network stakeholders are expected to vote on how Atom-based transactions are to be conducted.

Additionally, Cosmos’ network participants are planning to reach consensus regarding whether to launch the platform’s Intercommunication Blockchain Protocol (IBC). This protocol has been created to facilitate communication between multiple different blockchain networks by first connecting to the Cosmos Hub.

More Than 70 Projects Now Using Proof-of-Stake 

In addition to Cosmos’ PoS-based network, there are more than 70 other blockchain-based projects that are presently using some form of PoS-based consensus to manage their respective networks. In total, Diar has estimated that there’s nearly $4 billion being staked by all PoS networks.

Some notable PoS networks expected to launch later this year include Charles Hoskinson’s highly anticipated Cardano (ADA) platform, IOST (based on “proof of believability,” a variation of PoS), Nebulas (a PoS-based network that will reportedly not require hard forks for management), Aion (a platform that can help separate and independent blockchains connect with each other), and Rchain (a network that aims to manage content at the scale of Facebook in a decentralized manner), and Phantasma (a “next-generation messaging protocol”).