What is Cosmos (ATOM)?

Cosmos (ATOM) is a blockchain protocol dubbed as the ‘internet of blockchains’ by facilitating interoperability across platforms and blockchains.

Furthermore, Cosmos is aimed to help the interconnection of those crypto industries, in which customizability and interoperability are the major aims.

Instead of relying on its own network, Cosmos fosters an ecosystem in which each network can exchange information and assets programmatically. This is carried out to enable the scalability of blockchain activities without violating the blockchain’s decentralized nature, which does not rely on specific parties.

Cosmos was developed, launched, and supported solemnly by the Interchain Foundation (ICF), a Swiss non-profit organization that funds open-source blockchain projects [1].

What is IBC?

Inter-Blockchain Communication is the next component of Cosmos (IBC). It serves as a means of communication among many chains of the Cosmos system.

Thanks to IBC, the zones of Cosmos could well be linked together, and each performs with a similar understanding. To trade tokens, data, and other digital assets between chains, this is a vital aspect that a good multi-chain network should possess [2].

What is Osmosis

Osmosis is an automated market maker (AMM) built on Cosmos that enables cross-chain transactions through Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC). This gives the protocol an added layer of interoperability and composability. Unlike most existing AMMs, Osmosis is deeply customizable and allows developers to leverage many different changeable parameters to build truly unique AMMs that can dynamically fit a variety of outcome goals. Ultimately, Osmosis enables developers to design and deploy custom AMMs that can quickly adjust to changing market conditions and allow market participants to decide which iterations provide the most optimal results, rather than relying on the protocol itself [3].

Article Scope

Previous research has found that users are more likely to invest in two-way pools during their Osmosis journey. This means that most users are already engaged within the Osmosis ecosystem.

Now, in this research, we decided to investigate the usual journey of users in terms of the following concepts:

• The most common ways of entering Osmosis (Axelar (Satellite) or elsewhere)
• The most common asset transferred into Osmosis for first transfer
• What do wallets do when they first come to Osmosis?
• Join to swap and then transfer that asset out?
• Join to stake OSMO?
• Join to swap and then LP?
• Which assets are most commonly swapped for and transferred out?
• Which assets are most commonly swapped for and then LP'd?

All the above concepts will be examined from the two aspects of volume and number of users.

You can change the time frame of charts by changing the datetime_part parameter to two parameters, day or week, unless the chart title explicitly mentions the time frame of the chart.

In the comparison sections of this research, generally three types of graphs are presented: typical graph and normalized graph on the over time and donut graph related to the desired metric.

Results

A. New Wallets (Users) on Osmosis

The total number of wallets created in the Osmosis network was about 620k, and you can see the trend of its changes as well as the cumulative number of them on the over time in chart 1. The peak of this chart happened on April 23, 2022 with the number of 13.23k new unique users. On June 9, 10 and 11, 2022, the Osmosis network was unavailable to users due to a bug and the possibility of drained all liquidity pools [4,5].

Methodology

The main method used in data retrieval in this research was generally as follows:

1. The osmosis.core.fact_transfers table has been used to extract data related to Transfer Types (Osmosis, IBC_Transfer_Out and In).
2. Using the osmosis.core.fact_transferstable data and the Sender field, we identified the transmission chains to/from Osmosis.
3. In order to determine the First Action: Transfer to Osmosis Grouped by Assets metric, we first extracted the first transaction of the users in the transaction table, and then by joining these data to the fact_transfers and dim_tokens tables, we were able to, based on the first transaction of the users, Identify the tokens that are transferred to the Osmosis network.
4. In order to find out what was the first action of users in entering the Osmosis network, as in the previous method, we first extracted the first transaction of users from the transaction table and then we analyzed these transactions in the following tables to identify the four actions of Swap, Liquidity Providing, Transfer, Staking of users: (fact_swaps, fact_staking, fact_liquidity_provider_actions and fact_transfers)
5. In order to understand what tokens were swapped by the users in the first action of the swap type, we first extracted the first transaction of the users from the transaction table and then using the obtained data and combining it with two tables fact_swaps and dim_tokens We have reached the target data.
6. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, this time we combined the first transaction of the users with the data of the fact_liquidity_provider_actions table in order to identify the pools that the users have joined and identified them. Using the data of the dim_tokens table, we also determined the names of these pools.
7. In order to understand what the users have done after their first swap transaction and in their second transaction, we first identified the first swap transaction of the users as mentioned in paragraph 4. And by identifying the second transaction of the same users, we were able to categorize the second type of action of the users and place them in four groups: swap, liquidity providing, transfer and staking. At this stage, the type of action in the first transaction of the users has been compared with the type of action in the second transaction of the users.
8. In the last part of the second action, we identified new Osmosis users whose first transaction was a swap type. In order to obtain the target data, we first identified the first transaction of the users as a swap type, and then by deducting these transactions from the total transactions, the transactions of the four actions of swap, transfer, staking and liquidity provision were made by this group of users (New users who have swapped in the first action). We extracted the data and drew their graph based on the type of tokens they chose in their four main actions.

B. Transfer Types

As mentioned in the methodology section, using the data recorded in the Transfer_Type field in the osmosis.core.fact_transfers table, we were able to visualize the number of intra-network, external-to-internal and internal-to-external transfers of the Osmosis network. You can see the results in graphs 2-1 and 2-2. Chart 2-2 as well as the donut below show well that the most type of transfer is out-of-network type (IBC_Transfer_Out). In the second place, transfers are the IBC_Transfer_In type.

When we check this metric in terms of the transferred tokens (charts 3-1 and 3-2), we see that the most volume is related to the IBC_Transfer_In type and in the second place is intra-network transfers (Osmosis).

C. Transfers Inside and Outside Chains

C-1. From Other Chains to Osmosis

According to the donut below, we can see that about 46% of the number of transfers to the Osmosis network were from Other Chains, and the next ranks include ATOM, EVMOS, JUNO and Terra respectively. Chart 1-4 shows the change trend of this criterion. The reason for the peak created on May 28, 2022 could be due to the Terra 2 airdrop [6].

Chart 4-2 shows that until the first decade of December 2021, most of the transfers into Osmosis were from the ATOM chain, and this trend has changed almost since the beginning of 2022.

Contrary to what we observed in the number of transfers, by examining the volume of IBC transfers to the Osmosis network, we see that the majority of the transfer volume was from the AXL chain to Osmosis. In the second and third place, it includes Other Chain and ATOM, respectively.

C-2. From Osmosis to Other Chains

In the reverse direction, that is, from the Osmosis to other chains, we see that again the number of transfers to Other Chain is in the first place compared to other chains. In the next ranks are ATOM, JUNO, Terra, STARS and EVMOS chains. On March 4, 2022, we will witness a spike in the number of transfers, the reason for which is unknown to us.

Again, in the donut chart below, we see that the largest volume transferred from Osmosis was to the AXL chain, and the next ranks are Other Chain and Terra.

D. First Actions by New Unique Users on Osmosis

What was the first action of new users after entering the Osmosis network? Your answer is illustrated in Figures 8-1 and 8-2 and the pie chart below. The most number of first actions of new users are related to swap (53%), staking (22.6%), transfer (13.2%) and Liquidity Provider (11.2) actions respectively.

According chart 8-1, the peak number of swappers was on February 16, 2022, the transferers peak was on January 18, 2021, stakers was on September 5, 2022, and liquidity providers was on March 18, 2022.

The number of swappers has a downward trend after the peak. The number of transfers has followed an almost constant trend (except for some days when the number of transfers shows an increase) after peak day. The number of new stakers also has a constant trend, although on some days their number has increased. The number of new liquidity providers decreased sharply after the peak and has been in a completely downward trend.

D-1. First Action: Swapped TO Tokens by New Users

Figure 9-1 shows the trend of changes in the number of users whose first action was Swap on the Osmosis network grouped by the tokens name. The peak number of swaps happened on February 14. If you toggle the OSMO option in the legend section of Figure 9-2, you will see that over time, the most number of swaps by new users is related to the OSMO token. In the next ranks are ATOM, NGM, JUNO, and USTC tokens, respectively (see the donut chart).

The graphs of this part (9-1 to 10-2) are drawn on a weekly basis and changing the datetime_part parameter will not affect it.

When we examine the same criterion in terms of the volume of swapped tokens by new users, we arrive at the graphs 10-1,10-2 and the donut below. We can see that the most volume of swap over time is related to BOOT, LUNC and HUAHUA tokens. The peak volume of swpped tokens happened on January 20, which is related to the BOOT token.

D-2. First Action: Transfer to Osmosis Grouped by Tokens by New Users

Figure 11-1 clearly shows that the number of token transfers by new users in the Osmosis network has decreased drastically. This downward trend could be caused by fear in the crypto market. Based on the donut chart below, it can be clearly seen that the most number of first actions of new users to transfer tokens is related to OSMO, ATOM and AKT tokens respectively.

The three charts below compare the above criterion based on volume. Referring to the donut chart below, we can see that the most volume of the first transfer action by new users goes to LUNC, OSMO and DVPN tokens, respectively.

D-3. First Action: Staking OSMO Token by New Users

If the first action of new Osmosis users was staking, by referring to the osmosis.core.fact_staking table, we will find out that they have only staked the OSMO token. You can see the trend of changes in the number of staking OSMO first action by new users and the volume of staking by these users in graphs 13 and 14. The most number of stakes happened on September 5th, and the most volume of stakes occurred on July 6th. In general, these two graphs do not show a specific trend regarding the number and volume of staking by new users.

D-4. First Action: Liquidity Providing Grouped by Pool ID-Name by New Users

Figure 15-1 shows the overall trend of changes in the number of providing liquidity to pools by first action of new users on the Osmosis network. The most volume is pool #1 with OSMO-ATOM tokens (see donut below). In the next ranks are pools #497 with OSMO token, #562 of LUNC-USTC tokens. Other top pools such as #560 with OSMO-USTC tokens, #10 with ATOM-CRO token pair were also seen. Chart 15-2 also shows that most of the new users, whose first action was to provide liquidity, have stored their assets in pool #1 of the OSMO-ATOM token pair.

The graphs of this part (15-1 to 16-2) are drawn on a weekly basis and changing the datetime_part parameter will not affect it.

When we examine the same measure in terms of volume, we found that the most volume of tokens stored in the pools by the first action of new users are DVPN tokens (pool #6), HUAHUA (pool #605), USTC (pool #562) ) and ... (see the donut below). In chart 16-1, we see the peak liquidity providing in terms of volume related to DVPN token (pool #6) on September 20th.

E. Second Actions of New Unique Users on Osmosis After Their First Actions

In section D, we saw that the most transaction of new users in the first action of entering the Osmosis network is the swap action, but in their second action, we see that most of the transactions of these users are related to liquidity providing, transferring and staking, respectively, and the swap action in place It is last (see the donut chart below). Based on what can be inferred from graph 17-2, it is that the providing of liquidity by new users is in the first half of the graph (approximately before April 23) and after that, the transfer action has taken a most number.

Figure 18-1 compares the number of first action types of new Osmosis users with the number of their second action types. This graph shows that in the second action, the number of transactions of new users to provide liquidity was more than their first transactions in the same type of action (266.3k vs. 79.8k - 77% vs. 23%). The number of transfers in the second transaction of new users is also more than their first transaction (244.433k vs. 93.6k - 72% vs 28%). Also the number of staking in the second transaction of new users is also more than their first transaction (194k vs. 160.6k - 54.7% vs. 45.3%). And finally, as previously stated, the number of swaps in the second transaction of new users was less than their first transaction (105.2k vs. 376.6k - 22% vs. 78%).

E-1. First Action: Swap to and then Swap to Again by New Users on Osmosis

Figure 19-1 shows the number of users who have swapped tokens again on the over time after their first action on the Osmosis network, which was of the Swap type. You can see that the most number of second swap of this type of users is related to OSMO, ATOM, JUNO, USTC and LUNC tokens, and in terms of volume, BOOT, LUNC, HUAHUA, DVPN and CRBRUS tokens are in the first to fifth ranks (See the pie charts below).

Tokens that new users in the Osmosis network have swapped in their first action can be seen in section D-1 and charts 9-1 to 10-2.

E-2. First Action: Swap to and then Transfer OUT by New Users on Osmosis

Diagram 21-1 shows the trend of the second action of new users with transfer type after the first action of new users which was of swap type. You can see that this trend has been completely downward. The most number of transfers is related to OSMO, ATOM, EVMOS, and JUNO tokens.

Chart 21-2, which shows the output volume after the first action swap of new users, also has the same trend as the previous chart, with the difference that on some days we see peaks in the volume of some tokens. The most volume is related to OSMO, DVPN and HUAHUA tokens (See donuts below).

E-2. First Action: Swap to and then Liquidity Providing by New Users on Osmosis

The following first donut (# of LP action) shows that the most new users in their second transaction after the first transaction, which was a swap type, tend to provide liquidity in pools #1 (OSMO-ATOM), #560 (OSMO-USTC), #9 ( OSMO-CRO), #561 (OSMO-LUNC) and ... . Chart 23-1 shows that the trend of providing liquidity to this type of users has been completely downward trend.

The graphs of this part (23-1 to 22-2) are drawn on a weekly basis and changing the datetime_part parameter will not affect it.

But the second donut (the volume of LP action) shows that the most volume of tokens is stored in pools #6, #606, #605, #5, etc. to provide liquidity based on the criteria under study.

Chart 24-1 shows that not only the number of liquidity providing transactions has experienced a sharp decline, but also the volume of tokens stored in these pools has also had a very downward trend.

Conclusion

In this meta report, we analyzed the journey of new users to the Osmosis network. At first, we investigated the process of new users to this network and found that about 620k new users were active in this network.

The most number of transfers into Osmosis was from other chains, AXL and JUNO in the third place.

This analysis focused on the four general parts of swap, transfer, staking and liquidity providing by the first and second transactions (actions) of new and unique users of the network.

The first step of most new users as soon as they entered the network was the swap, staking, transfer and liquidity providing action types, but their second step was liquidity in Osmosis pools, transfer, staking and in the last place was swap.

In terms of the number of users (the number of first and second transactions), in all the four main actions mentioned, it was observed that some tokens like OSMO, ATOM, JUNO LUNC, and USTC tokens are in the first place, but in terms of volume, it can be seen that most of the tokens such as LUNC, DVPN, BOOT and some other tokens are ranked higher.

When we refer to the liquidity pools, we see that this category of users have stored the same tokens in the pools both in their first transaction and in their second transaction, both in terms of number and volume.

By carefully studying this dashboard, you can easily investigate the behavior of users facing the Osmosis network in many aspects, especially their first two actions.

Sections of this Study

A. New Wallets (Users) on Osmosis

B. Transfer Types

C. Transfers Inside and Outside Chains

D. First Actions by New Unique Users on Osmosis

E. Second Actions of New Unique Users on Osmosis After Their First Actions