The is one of the most promising blockchain networks that enable interoperability between different blockchain platforms, and it's becoming increasingly important for developers to understand how to build and deploy smart contracts on this network. Cosmos network are self-executing contracts with the terms of the agreement written directly into code. They are a vital component of decentralized applications and are crucial for creating trustless and transparent systems. As the demand for decentralized applications rises, understanding and using smart contracts is a prerequisite skill for developers building and developing applications in Web3. Smart contracts Does the cosmos support smart contracts? Yes. In this tutorial, we will learn about the Cosmos ecosystem and how to build and deploy a smart contract on the cosmos network. Understanding the Cosmos Network The engine powers the independent, parallel blockchains that make up the decentralized Cosmos Network. The Cosmos Network aims to build a decentralized network of interconnected blockchains that can expand and cooperate, facilitating the exchange of data and value between various blockchain platforms. Tendermint Core consensus Tendermint is a Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus engine that enables fast and secure transaction processing. It allows a group of to agree on the state of the network through a voting procedure. Tendermint enables quicker transaction processing than conventional proof-of-work consensus methods, such as those employed by Bitcoin and Ethereum (Now Proof of Stake). validators The Cosmos Network's use of the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol is crucial. Interoperability across several blockchain systems is made possible by IBC, which enables the transfer of value and data between various blockchains in the Cosmos Network. Additionally, the Cosmos Network features a hub-and-spoke architecture that enables the development of standalone blockchains (spokes) that can communicate with the Cosmos Hub (the hub). Data and currency can be exchanged between the various blockchains in the network thanks to the Cosmos Hub, which acts as the network's hub. Scalability, security, and interoperability are just a few of the Cosmos Network's benefits over other blockchain platforms. It is an intriguing and promising blockchain network overall. It is a desirable alternative for developers looking to create decentralized applications due to its capacity to handle colossal throughput and connect several blockchains. Why Cosmos? The Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol and the Tendermint Core consensus engine form the Cosmos network's foundation, enabling the exchange of value and data between various blockchains within the Cosmos Network. This was covered in more detail in the previous section when we discussed the Cosmos ecosystem. The Cosmos Network's main traits include the following: A Byzantine Fault Tolerant consensus engine, Tendermint provides quick and secure transaction processing. Tendermint Core Consensus Engine: IBC enables communication across several blockchains inside the Cosmos Network, allowing for the exchange of value and data. Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol: The Cosmos Network provides support for custom token creation. These tokens can be used in decentralized apps to represent digital assets or as payment. Using independent blockchains with Tendermint Core enables quicker transaction processing times and the capacity to process many transactions per second. Scalability: The Cosmos Network's interoperability feature enables developers to create decentralized applications that communicate with many blockchain systems, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others. Interoperability: The Cosmos Network's hub-and-spoke architecture enables the development of separate blockchains that can communicate with the Cosmos Hub. The network's central node, the Cosmos Hub, facilitates the exchange of money and information among its several blockchains. Hub-and-spoke architecture: In the following section, let's dive deeply into the practical aspect of building and deploying smart contracts on the cosmos network. Prerequisite Let's make sure Node/NPM is set up on our computer. is a guide if we don't already have it installed. Here Project Setup and Installation Let's navigate to the terminal. We'll need to into any directory of our choice and then run the following commands: cd mkdir cosmos-project cd cosmos-project npm init -y npm install --save-dev hardhat Let's create a sample project by using the following command: npx hardhat The above command will check if we have hardhat installed globally; if not, it will download it from the npm registry and run the command using the downloaded version. Accept the following options. Let's run the command below to verify that everything is operating as it should. npx hardhat test A passing test result will appear in our console. Now, may be removed from the directory and the scripts directory. After that, delete in the directory. Lock.js test deploy.js Lock.sol contracts The folders themselves should not be deleted! Create a Smart Contract Greeter This section will create a file in the contract directory with the following code snippet. Greeter.sol // SPDX-License-Identifier: UNLICENSED pragma solidity ^0.8.9; // Define a smart contract called "Greeter" contract Greeter { // Define a public variable called "greeting" of type string string public greeting; // Define a constructor that takes in a string and assigns it to the "greeting" variable constructor(string memory _greeting) { greeting = _greeting; } // Define a function called "setGreeting" that allows the "greeting" variable to be changed function setGreeting(string memory _greeting) public { greeting = _greeting; } // Define a function called "greet" that returns the current "greeting" variable function greet() public view returns (string memory) { return greeting; } } In the code snippet above, it's important to note that the line serves as a unique identifier to signify that the code is unlicensed and available for anybody. SPDX-License-Identifier: UNLICENSED Testing the Smart Contract Create a new file called inside the directory and update it with the following code snippet. Greeter-test.js test const { expect } = require("chai"); const { ethers } = require("hardhat"); describe("Greeter", function () { it("Should deploy the Greeter contract", async function () { // Get the contract factory for the "Greeter" contract const Greeter = await ethers.getContractFactory("Greeter"); // Deploy the contract to the blockchain const greeter = await Greeter.deploy("Hello, world!"); // Wait until the contract is deployed await greeter.deployed(); // Check that the contract's greet() method returns the expected greeting expect(await greeter.greet()).to.equal("Hello, world!"); }); it("Should return the new greeting once it's changed", async function () { // Get the contract factory for the "Greeter" contract const Greeter = await ethers.getContractFactory("Greeter"); // Deploy the contract to the blockchain const greeter = await Greeter.deploy("Hello, world!"); // Wait until the contract is deployed await greeter.deployed(); // Check that the contract's greet() method returns the expected greeting expect(await greeter.greet()).to.equal("Hello, world!"); // call the setGreeting method const setGreetingTx = await greeter.setGreeting("Hola, mundo!"); // wait until the transaction is mined await setGreetingTx.wait(); // Check that the contract's greet() method returns the new greeting expect(await greeter.greet()).to.equal("Hola, mundo!"); }); }); Next, run the following command in the terminal to compile test cases. npx hardhat test We should have something similar to what is shown below. Compile and Deploy the Greeter Smart Contract to the Cosmos Network To compile the smart contract, we will need to create a new file inside the folder and update it with the following code snippet. deploy.js scripts const main = async () => { // Get the contract factory for the "Greeter" contract const greeterContractFactory = await hre.ethers.getContractFactory("Greeter"); // Deploy the contract to the blockchain const greeterContract = await greeterContractFactory.deploy( "Hello, Hardhat!" ); // Wait until the contract is deployed await greeterContract.deployed(); // Log the address of the deployed contract console.log("Greeter Contract deployed to: ", greeterContract.address); }; const runMain = async () => { try { // Call the main function await main(); process.exit(0); } catch (error) { // Log any errors that occur console.log(error); process.exit(1); } }; // Run the main function runMain(); In the code snippet above, This script deploys a smart contract called to the blockchain using the hre.ethers library. Greeter The method deploys a new contract instance to the blockchain. greeterContractFactory.deploy() method is used to await the contract deployment. await greeterContract.deployed() The address of the deployed contract is then logged into the console, and then function is a wrapper function that runs the main function and catches any possible errors. runMain() Next, create on the project's root directory to store the private key, which we will use in the file during deployment. .env hardhat.config.js PRIVATE_KEY= Navigate to the file and then add the following code snippet. hardhat.config.js require("@nomicfoundation/hardhat-toolbox"); require("dotenv").config(); /** @type import('hardhat/config').HardhatUserConfig */ module.exports = { // Specify version of solidity compiler solidity: "0.8.17", // Define networks to be used for testing and deployment networks: { // Hardhat network is a built-in development network in Hardhat hardhat: { }, // Local network is a network running on localhost local : { url: "http://localhost:8545", }, // evmos network is a network hosted by evmos evmos: { url: "https://eth.bd.evmos.dev:8545", // Use the private key specified in the .env file accounts:[process.env.PRIVATE_KEY], }, }, }; This is a configuration file for the Hardhat development environment. We will deploy the smart contract in the next step, but we need to ensure we fund our wallet with a test EVMOS ( token. and fund the wallet using this evmos . A decentralized proof of stake blockchain in the Cosmos ecosystem) Set up evmos on MetaMask faucet site After requesting a faucet, we should have something similar to what is shown below. Now we can deploy the smart contract on the Cosmos network using the following command. npx hardhat run --network evmos scripts/deploy.js Verify Contract Deployment on EVM Explorer Let’s view this block in the EVM Explorer https://evm.evmos.dev To follow up, you can find the entire code for this project . here Conclusion This article provided a beginner-friendly guide to building and deploying smart contracts on the Cosmos network. Using the Hardhat development environment, we also demonstrated how to deploy a smart contract to the Cosmos network. See you in my next blog article. Take care!!! Also published . here