A Beginner’s Guide to Neutron

On May 11, 2023, Neutron became the first ‘consumer-chain’ to launch on Cosmos. Neutron and Cosmos share a mutually beneficial relationship whereby the bigger Neutron grows, the more valuable ATOM – the native token for the Cosmos ecosystem becomes.

In this guide, we will dive into the foundational elements of Neutron. We’ll also discuss the exciting opportunity for ATOM stakers on Trust Wallet to participate in the recently launched Neutron airdrop. Trust Wallet allows you to buy and stake ATOM tokens. Moreover, you can deposit NTRN - the native tokens for the Neutron platform securely in Trust Wallet. If you have staked ATOM using Trust Wallet, you are eligible to claim your tokens. 

Read along to find out how you can claim your NTRN tokens before the three-month deadline is over.

What Is Neutron?

Neutron is a permissionless smart-contract platform developed with Tendermint and the Cosmos SDK. The platform is built for interchain smart contract deployment and features native support for CosmWasm, Replicated Security (previously known as Interchain Security), and the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol.

Neutron’s Replicated Security (RS) feature provides developers with the robust Proof-of-Stake security of the Cosmos Hub. The Cosmos Hub is a decentralized blockchain network that provides vital ecosystem services for Cosmos through interoperability between different blockchain networks.  

Replicated Security allows validators from a ‘Provider-Chain,’ in this case, the Cosmos Hub, to generate blocks for a ‘Consumer-Chain,’ that is, Neutron. Node operators receive additional native tokens (ATOM) as incentives and can be penalized for failing to validate blocks for the Consumer-Chain.

Furthermore, Neutron’s support for IBC, as well as Interchain Queries (ICQ) and Interchain Accounts (ICA), allows any smart contract deployed on the platform to seamlessly communicate with the rest of IBC. It also enables intricate operations, including cross-chain collateralization and interchain liquid staking.

Interchain Queries allow smart contracts to securely obtain information from remote blockchains without relying on 3rd party oracles. As a result, developers can utilize ICQ to build cross-chain applications in little time and at a fraction of the cost.

Typically, smart contract developers must choose a specific feature set and market in which they wish to build based on the platform they choose to develop on. As a result, they end up building decentralized applications with limited potential dictated by the features and market of the chosen platform. 

With Neutron, however, developers can access and use feature sets from various chains because of its seamless interoperability features. They are also not only limited to a single market but can, instead, access a range of markets at once by deploying on Neutron. The platform features a user-friendly interface and sophisticated trading tools that further set it apart from other smart contract platforms such as Juno and Evmos.

Neutron Airdrop for ATOM Stakers

In July 2022, the Cosmos community voted on Proposal 72, thus accepting Neutron in its ecosystem and allocating 50,000 ATOM for its development. 

As a sign of gratitude and to ensure that the Cosmos Hub community is well represented in its governance, Neutron announced an airdrop event where they would distribute a total of 70,000,000 tokens with ATOM stakers. This amounts to 7% of the total supply and 58% of the circulating supply at the time of writing.

To be eligible for the airdrop, participants must have staked at least 1 $ATOM at the time of the snapshot, which occurred on Block number 12,900,000 (November 19, 2022). 

Those who participated in the voting of Cosmos Proposal 72, whether they voted directly or through a validator, are also eligible for the airdrop.

Note that individuals who are citizens of the U.S., sanctioned people, or those residing in sanctioned countries are not eligible to participate in the airdrop. Furthermore, validators affiliated with centralized exchanges and custodians, as well as delegators, cannot participate in the airdrop.

The tokens will be unlocked over a three-month period after making a claim, beginning approximately nine days after Neutron’s airdrop event launch (June 2, 2023). Voting powers will also be activated during this time. Note that the airdrop must be claimed within three months of Neutron’s launch. Any unclaimed tokens will be returned to the Cosmos Hub community pool.

How to Claim Using Trust Wallet

If you have staked ATOM tokens using Trust Wallet, then you are eligible to claim NTRN tokens. Below is a step-by-step guide on how you can claim your tokens:

Step 1: Ensure that you have the latest version of the Trust Wallet Browser Extension installed. You will also need some ATOM (from Cosmos Hub) or axlUSDC to pay for the transaction fees. axlUSDC is a wrapped, multi-chain version of USDC.

You will also need to send a small amount of axlUSDC or ATOM tokens to your Trust Wallet extension in order to notify the Neutron blockchain of your wallet’s existence. This step is necessary to ensure you’re able to claim your NTRN tokens.

You have two options for sending tokens to your Trust wallet extension to cover fees; via the TFM’s IBC Bridge or AXELLAR.

You may use TFM’s IBC-Bridge to send ATOM or axlUSDC to your wallet if you have these tokens on an IBC-enabled chain such as Polygon, Ethereum, Arbitrum, etc.  You only need to connect your Trust Wallet, select the asset you want to send and the chain you’ll use, and the application will do the routing automatically.

If you have USDC on any blockchain that interoperates with Axelar, you may use routers such as Squid and Satellite to bridge to Neutron. Axelar is a cross-chain communication platform, while Squid and Satellite are cross-chain liquidity protocols built on Axelar.

Squid Router

Axelar Satellite

Step 2: Once your wallet is properly set up and funded, head to the Neutron Token Generation Event webpage.

Step 3: Click on ‘Connect Wallet’ to connect your Trust Wallet. Proceed to authorize the connection to approve the Neutron platform to access your public wallet address and interact with the smart contract.

Step 4: Navigate to the section containing more information on the airdrop, such as:

• The number of tokens you are eligible to claim.
• Whether or not the tokens have been claimed
• The vesting schedule of the tokens
• The time remaining before unclaimed tokens are returned to the pool

Step 5: If you qualify for the airdrop, a ‘Claim’ button will be on the screen. You have three months from the date of the airdrop to claim your tokens. Also, keep in mind that you will claim all tokens in one transaction.

Once you click on the ‘Claim’ button, approve the transaction through your Trust Wallet. Review the details, including fees, then confirm the transaction.

Step 6: After approval, a pop-up will appear displaying the status of the transaction. Depending on the network’s traffic, this may take some time. The pop-up will display either a success or failure message once the transaction is executed.

Step 7: Finally, check your Trust Wallet and confirm that the transfer of NTRN tokens was successful. If your claim is successful, the ‘Claim’ button will disappear, and in its place will be a message indicating that your airdrop has been claimed.

Always ensure that you are compliant with your local laws and regulations before participating in any airdrop. In addition, remember to keep tabs on the transaction fees to maintain enough funds in your wallet for claiming the airdrop. 

Conclusion

As a smart contracts platform that runs on Cosmos, Neutron adopts and expands upon the interchain features already offered by its parent chain, Cosmos Hub. By leveraging Cosmos’ technology stack, Neutron is able to offer a fast, secure, and cost-effective platform for building cross-chain decentralized applications. Thus, Neutron provides a novel solution to the issues of interoperability and scalability that plagues other smart contract platforms. 

Overall, Neutron is poised to be a significant decentralized finance platform that can offer people a more secure, faster, and cheaper way of trading and swapping cryptocurrencies. Its advanced features and unique solution to the siloing problem that faces other smart contract platforms make it an exciting project to keep an eye on in the months and years to come. 

Download Trust Wallet today to securely store and manage your Neutron (NTRN) tokens. 

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