---
title: "Radix vs Cosmos"
path: "/contents/tech/comparisons/radix-vs-cosmos"
version: "1.3.0"
author: "Hydrate"
createdAt: "2026-02-19T05:51:32.264Z"
updatedAt: "2026-07-18T11:08:43.985Z"
---

# Radix vs Cosmos

<Infobox>
| **Radix** | Single sharded ledger, atomic composability |
| **[Cosmos](https://cosmos.network)** | Sovereign app-chains, [IBC](https://ibcprotocol.dev) message passing |
| **Key Difference** | Atomic cross-shard vs async cross-chain |
</Infobox>

## Overview

Radix and [Cosmos](https://cosmos.network) take fundamentally different approaches to scalability:

### Architecture

**Cosmos** uses sovereign app-chains connected via Inter-Blockchain Communication ([IBC](https://ibcprotocol.dev)). Each chain runs its own consensus and maintains its own state. Cross-chain operations are asynchronous messages — there's no atomic composability between chains.

**Radix** uses a single sharded ledger with [Cerberus](/contents/tech/core-protocols/cerberus-consensus-protocol) braiding consensus across shards. Cross-shard transactions are [atomic](/contents/tech/core-concepts/atomic-composability) — they either fully succeed or fully fail, enabling [DeFi](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decentralized_finance) composability that's impossible in the Cosmos model.

### Trade-offs

Cosmos offers more app-chain sovereignty and customization. Radix offers stronger composability guarantees and a unified DeFi ecosystem. For DeFi specifically, Radix's atomic cross-shard model is more suitable — DeFi protocols need to compose with each other in single transactions.

## Scalability in practice (2026)

The braided, effectively-unlimited-shard architecture described above is the design of [Cerberus](/contents/tech/core-protocols/cerberus-consensus-protocol), not the current state of the live network. [Babylon](/contents/tech/releases/radix-mainnet-babylon) mainnet today runs a single, **unsharded** Cerberus instance; multi-shard consensus is being delivered through the [Hyperscale](/contents/tech/research/hyperscale-rs) program (the [eMunie → Tempo → Cerberus → Xi’an](/contents/tech/research/consensus-evolution) lineage). A [January 2026 public test](/contents/tech/research/hyperscale-500k-tps) sustained **500,000+** real cross-shard transactions per second (peaking above 800,000) across 128 shards, as detailed in the [Radix Hyperscale update](https://www.radixdlt.com/blog/hyperscale-update-500k-public-test-done).

The contrast with [Cosmos](https://cosmos.network) is therefore about direction as much as design: Cosmos scales *horizontally* by launching more sovereign app-chains connected over [IBC](https://ibcprotocol.dev) (each a separate trust boundary with asynchronous messaging), while Radix aims to scale a *single* atomically-composable ledger by sharding consensus underneath it — keeping cross-shard transactions atomic rather than message-passed.

## See also

- [hyperscale-rs](/contents/tech/research/hyperscale-rs) — the Rust implementation of Radix’s sharded consensus
- [Consensus Evolution at Radix](/contents/tech/research/consensus-evolution)
- [Radix vs Polkadot](/contents/tech/comparisons/radix-vs-polkadot)