Osmosis co-founder Sunny Aggarwal talks costumes, Cosmos and the ‘Bitcoin renaissance’

[Emily]

osmosis co-founder Sunny Aggarwal talks costumes, Cosmos and the ‘Bitcoin renaissance’


Even if you’re not an avid ‘Cosmonaut’, you probably know Sunny Aggarwal, co-founder of Osmosis Labs. With an infectious smile and bubbly personality, Sunny’s name is surprisingly appropriate. He is the kind of person whose profound intelligence, quick wit, and unbridled passion illuminate the areas around him.

We were scheduled to meet at cosmos Dubai during Token2049 but life had other plans. There would be no Cosmos side event. Dubai faces worst floods in 75 years; The desert metropolis rising like skyscrapers turned into a lake and entire neighborhoods were flooded. “There’s always Cosmoverse in October,” smiles Sunny. “Then we can meet in person.”

The rise and rise of Osmosis


I couldn’t wait to see what outfit Sunny would wear; It has quite a collection of dazzling costume wearers, from 40lb chainmail to a Byzantine General costume with a striking red-crested helmet. “Oh, I save the cooler outfits for bigger events like Cosmoverse or Osmocon,” she explains, “my costume budget would be huge if I wore a new one for every event,” she laughs. On the other side of the screen, Sunny’s apartment in New York looks decidedly simpler today.

Osmosis, the largest decentralized exchange (DEX) of the Cosmos ecosystem, announced that it has left this exchange behind. 32 billion dollars that day’s all-time trading volume. I ask how it feels to design Cosmos’ most popular project and reach such an impressive milestone.

“I think he said Osmosis DEX wants to reach $40 billion, [in the tweet]”But I’m waiting for $100 billion,” he replies.

Sunny is shamelessly ambitious. Did he always know Osmosis would be this successful? Hey, he thinks:

“The immediate interest it received when we started was astounding. Cosmos had a number of high-value assets that were not listed on centralized exchanges, but we did not anticipate how big of a deal this would be.”

Growth hacking and bumps along the way


Getting here wasn’t easy. Sunny has been in the web3 industry since 2017. Like all struggling OGs, it has had its share of ups and downs, including cryptocurrency crashes, bear markets, and all-out booms like Terra (LUNA) and FTX. I asked him about the most stressful situation he’d ever experienced, and he paused:

“I guess I’d have to say Osmosis’ launch week. It was the first time I was launching a project, a company, and a blockchain all at the same time. There are a lot of last mile things you don’t think about.

Osmosis had publicly announced its launch date, and unlike many software projects that push their launch dates back in the proverbial box, Sunny was adamant about not changing its own date. But as more and more last-mile items continued to pile up, the launch date hung like a dark, brooding cloud over the team’s heads.

“Osmosis went from idea to launch very quickly,” he says. “We went from development to launch in just three or four months, delaying a lot of important things until the last two weeks.”

Would he have done anything differently with the benefit of hindsight?

“I used to plan everything in advance. When you start a project, there’s more to it than code. “There are so many operational issues to consider and it takes longer than you think… I would have done all of this much sooner.”

Osmosis launched with a team of six and, despite a rocky start, now has 45 full-time employees:

“I like the size we’re at right now,” he says. “We’re still small enough that you know everyone and have full team work offsite, but we’re large enough to pursue multiple unique product lines in parallel.”

How does he cope with the stress of being at the forefront of an ever-evolving industry? By throwing himself out of planes. Sunny is an aviation fan and is learning how to fly a plane and taking a skydiving course.

“I think it’s best to put yourself in a position where you can’t touch your phone, like flying on a plane or scuba diving” (or flying toward the earth at 120 miles per hour). “Crypto markets are not volatile enough, I need to add more adrenaline,” he laughs.

Travel, idols and a mind that ‘supports vitality’


Spending a lot of time in the air, Sunny also loves to travel and if there’s a place closest to his heart, it’s Switzerland. He has always been fascinated by the mountainous Alpine country and its rich history, culture, politics and economy.

He even taught a course about Switzerland while studying at Berkeley. But he wouldn’t want to live there because it was “a bit too boring”. Sunny prefers the frenetic pace of a city like New York or “being at the forefront of technological innovation” in San Francisco’s Silicon Valley. She also loves Berlin, where her co-founder lives, and has many friends. “It’s like a second home.”

Beyond constantly improving Osmosis, helping other Cosmos ecosystem projects, and increasing pilot miles, Sunny is an avid reader. One of his biggest idols is Peter Thiel, whose writing and “way of thinking” greatly influenced Sunny’s worldview. Beyond Thiel Zero to Onerecommends the book in flock by founder Rick Falkvinge Pirate Party Political movements in Europe. The book describes how Falkvinge founded a political party and transformed it into a decentralized power through a concept called “swarms”.

He elaborates as follows:

“In consensus protocols, you have the concept of protocols that support security and protocols that support liveness. You can never bifurcate in choosing security, you agree on everything and then you make progress. The protocols that support liveliness are constantly forking, but they are making rapid progress, you don’t need the approval of the entire group to make a move… In the early stages of an organization where you are focused on growth, this liveliness supports you not to get bogged down in bureaucracy.”

A different kind of ‘bitcoin maxi’


Self-proclaimed “Bitcoin maxi” Sunny has no doubt that the original cryptocurrency is the best money for the world; But the glacial pace of development cannot keep pace with the need for constant innovation. That’s why he worked on the Cosmos infrastructure in the first place and “created the application chain layer for Bitcoin.” What excites him most right now?

“It’s definitely a Bitcoin renaissance. Ordinal numbers changed everything, there was a cultural shift with the realization of all Bitcoin L2s. “I’m sure we’ll have a good soft fork in the next year or two.”

Wouldn’t this undermine Bitcoin’s sound money qualities and adoption as an asset? “The reason why there was a need for so many money-like assets was the limitations of Bitcoin, but now Bitcoin can scale to more people and offer more functionality like DeFi, privacy, socialization… there are so many things we can do on top of Bitcoin now.”

What would Sunny do if he didn’t spend his time disrupting traditional finance? “Equipment.” Sunny studied robotics at school before working in crypto, and one day he wants to return to his roots.

“Different ideas came to my mind. “I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about smart guns, about having safer firearms, about stopping people from stealing them with security systems like fingerprint scanners.” “Anything that has a significant political impact really interests me,” he pauses. That’s why I got into crypto in the first place.”

If you want to keep up with Sunny, follow her personal information. excitement or osmosis go to his account or switch to his account Web site for ideas and inspiration. You can also explore the forefront of DeFi by trying the following: osmosis DEX.

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