Everything you need to know about the Hub's upcoming Launchpad

Forge is a user-facing frontend for Interchain Security (ICS) developed by Informal Systems and aims to address the following issues of launching a sovereign chain:

1) Discovery Platform

With the launch of permissionless ICS, $ATOM stakers need a single platform to discover new and upcoming consumer chains (CC).

On the Forge platform, folks can learn more about upcoming consumer chains like what they are working on, their staking rewards, upcoming airdrops, liquidity provision and incentives, how to delegate to active validators, and engage with the consumer chain's community.

2) Launchpad

Using Forge, new chains can be launched in a weekend rather than months.

Forge offers comprehensive resources and all the essentials to guide developers through the entire process of launching a chain.

3) Meeting Your Validators

Putting together a validator set can be a complex and tedious process. Forge offers a platform where aspiring consumer chains can meet validators in an easy way to run and validate their chain.

The Delegator Experience

The chain listing screen on Forge will list all consumer chains, along with basic information about each project, like displayed in the image below.

Chain Detail Screen

This screen contains a more specific overview of each consumer chain, but most importantly it has two points of end user interactions:

1) Validators

$ATOM delegators cannot earn staking rewards from a CC without delegating to a validator who runs that chain.

At the bottom of the chain detail screen, stakers can see a list of validators running this chain (opted in), and delegate to them right there.

2) Badges

Badges are interactive widgets (upper right corner) from other applications that offer an additional way for ATOM delegators to engage with the chain beyond staking.

The first integration will be Hydro. Other third-party integrations like airdrop providers, IDOs, governance tools are in the works.

The Chain Launch Experience

Forge guides developer through 4 phases:

1) Idea phase: ICS integration with Spawn (a chain bootstrapping tool) + proper Cosmos tech documentation.

2) Pre-launch phase: Once a chain is ready for publicity, it goes live on Forge. There it can be found by ATOM delegators and build an initial validator set.

3) Testnet phase: Validators who opted in during the pre-launch phase are notified and a testnet will be spun up.

4) Mainnet phase: Once a CC is ready for prime time, the CC's record goes onto the Cosmos Hub mainnet and the CC's mainnet goes live.

Disclaimer

This article is intended to educate readers about certain topics and should not be considered financial advice in any way.