Seeking Grants Deal with Osmosis, Privacy Blockchain Namada Proposes Airdrop

Builders of the privacy-focused blockchain Namada seek to forge closer ties with the Osmosis protocol by jointly funding software “public goods” and airdropping its planned NAM token to OSMO investors.

Namada co-founder Christopher Goes told CoinDesk the planned grants program would support a range of privacy-centric research and development projects that benefit Cosmos-based Osmosis and Namada, which hasn’t launched yet. Namada would bankroll the effort but Goes said he’s “hopeful” Osmosis will pitch in too.

Namada also seeks to roll out its method for protecting asset privacy on Osmosis. These so-called “shielded actions” would hide assets on Namada when not being used in trades on Osmosis, Goes said.

“It would be pretty boring if you only had assets and couldn't do anything with them,” explained Goes. “So we expect that people want to go to Osmosis” and decentralized exchanges on other chains to trade their assets, he added.

Namada’s Swiss-based nonprofit the Anoma Foundation would earmark some of Namada’s staking token NAM for airdrops to OSMO holders. The snapshot hasn’t yet happened and distribution could come after Namada goes live.

Exact timelines and amounts are not yet in stone in part because Osmosis’ community has not yet weighed in. Goes said he’s looking for the community’s input as well as their permission to go forward with the proposal, which will be subject to an OSMO governance vote.

In April Namada proposed a similar partnership with Zcash that also included an airdrop.