Osmosis and UX Chain Announce Merger, Set to Jointly Launch Cosmos-based DeFi Hub

Osmosis and UX Chain are preparing to merge in a move that seeks to create a comprehensive DeFi hub.

Subject to approval, the merger would result in the fusion of lending protocol UX Chain’s lending logic and algorithms with Osmosis’ decentralized exchange, the largest DEX on Cosmos.

In an announcement posted on Osmosis’ forum on Sunday, the companies jointly detailed a plan for the proposed merger. The procedure will take place in incremental steps, starting with the assimilation of UX Chain’s codebase into the Osmosis Chain.

“When looking through the Cosmos, it is clear that Osmosis has shown a dominant presence as the most successful DEX in the ecosystem,” Osmosis said in its post. “Concurrently when looking at lending platforms in Cosmos it is quite apparent that the Umee UX Chain is the dominant lending platform in Cosmos with more special features than any other lending platform in crypto. Considering the potential synergies, we’re proposing a merger of these blockchain protocols into one of the most powerful DeFi ecosystems possible.”

The merger seeks to maximize the capabilities of both platforms, with the initial phase expected to include the harmonization of shared total value locked across the two networks. During this preliminary step, both chains will maintain the separate trading of their respective tokens — the Osmosis token and the UX token.

There might also be a subsequent step involving the consolidation of the two tokens, potentially through a token swap or migration process. As per the proposal, this phase aims to establish a unified token representing both networks. The specific configurations for the token swap will be determined through community governance.

“Each chain will have a separate governance vote from each blockchain network,” said Brent Xu, co-founder of UX Chain, in an interview with The Block. “The community governance will manage the processes separately for each network toward achieving consensus around the end goal of creating the DeFi hub.”

The proposed merger seeks to empower UX Chain to enhance the mesh security of Osmosis—the network’s ability to secure other blockchain projects. This could be achieved by leveraging the combined expertise or merging validator sets from both networks.

UX Chain and Osmosis may also investigate opportunities to develop advanced liquidations, native margin trading, and MEV markets.

“This proposal to merge the Umee UX DeFi experience into the Osmosis chain would enable some really powerful new features and functionalities for our users — and we’re excited to continue our collaboration with UX Chain with what the community decides is best,” Osmosis co-founder Sunny Aggarwal said.