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Osmosis Co-Founder Sunny Aggarwal Talks Customs, Cosmos, and the ‘Bitcoin Renaissance’
Even if you are not an avid “cosmonaut”, you are probably familiar with Sunny Aggarwalthe co-founder of Osmosis laboratories. With an infectious smile and upbeat personality, Sunny’s name is surprisingly fitting. She is the kind of person whose deep intellect, wit, and unbridled passion illuminate the spaces around him.
We had planned to meet at Cosmos Dubai during Token2049, but life had other plans. The Cosmos side event shouldn’t have happened. Dubai has been hit by the worst floods in 75 years, reducing the deserted, high-rise metropolis into a lake and submerging entire neighborhoods. “There’s always Cosmoverse in October,” smiles Sunny. “Then we can see each other in person.”
The rise and rise of osmosis
I couldn’t wait to see what outfit Sunny would wear; she has quite the collection, wearing a range of eye-popping costumes, from her to 40 lb chainmail armor to a Byzantine general costume with a striking red-crested helmet. “Ah, I save the best clothes for bigger events like Cosmoverse or Osmocon,” he explains, “if I wore a new one for every event, my costume budget would become too high,” he laughs. On the other side of the screen, from Sunny’s apartment in New York, he seems decidedly more discreet today.
Since the Cosmos ecosystem is the largest decentralized exchange (DEX)Osmosis has announced the passing $32 billion in all-time trading volume that day. I ask how it feels to come up with Cosmos’ most popular project and reach such an impressive milestone.
“I think he said Osmosis DEX wanted to get to $40 billion, [in the tweet]”, he replies, “but I’m waiting for 100 billion dollars.”
Sunny is unashamedly ambitious. Did you always know that Osmosis would be so successful? He reflects:
“The immediate success it achieved upon launch was truly amazing. Cosmos had a lot of high-value assets that weren’t listed on centralized exchanges, but we didn’t realize how big of a deal it would be.”
Growth hacking and the obstacles along the way
It hasn’t all been easy getting this far. Sunny has been in the web3 industry since 2017. Like all hardened OGs, he has experienced his fair share of ups and downs: cryptocurrency crashes, bear markets, and outright implosions like Terra (LUNA) and FTX. I ask him what is the most stressful situation he has experienced so far and he pauses:
“I guess I would have to say the week of the launch of Osmosis. It was the first time I launched a project, a company and a blockchain 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 the plethora of software projects that push launch dates like the proverbial can, Sunny was adamant about not moving hers. But as more and more last-mile items continued to accumulate, the launch date loomed over the team’s head like a dark, ominous cloud.
“Osmosis went from idea to launch very quickly,” he says. “We went from development to launch in just three or four months, and we procrastinated on a lot of important things until the last couple of weeks.”
Would he have done anything differently in hindsight?
“I would have planned things further in advance. When you launch a project, there’s more to it than just code. There are a lot of operational aspects to consider and it takes longer than you think… I would have done it all a lot sooner.”
Osmosis launched with a team of six and, despite a bumpy start, now has 45 full-time employees:
“I like the dimension we’re in now,” he says. “We’re small enough that we know everyone and can build a full team off-site, but we’re large enough that we’re pursuing multiple unique product lines in parallel.”
How do you handle the stress of being on the cutting edge of an ever-changing industry? Jumping from planes. Sunny is an aviation enthusiast and she is learning to fly a plane and taking a skydiving course.
“I find it best to put yourself in a position where you can’t touch your phone, like flying in a plane or scuba diving” (or hurtling towards the earth at 120 miles per hour). “Cryptocurrency markets are not volatile enough, I need to add more adrenaline,” she laughs.
Travel, idols and a mind “conducive to vitality”.
Spending so much time in the air, Sunny also enjoys travelling, and if there’s one place closest to her heart, it’s Switzerland. He has always been fascinated by the mountainous Alpine country and its rich history, culture, politics and economy.
He also taught a course on Switzerland while studying at Berkeley. He wouldn’t want to live there, though, because he’s “just a little 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.”
In addition to continuously improving Osmosis, helping other projects in the Cosmos ecosystem, and earning pilot miles, Sunny is an avid reader. One of her biggest idols is Peter Thiel, whose writing and “way of thinking” have greatly influenced Sunny’s worldview. Beyond Thiel From zero to onerecommends the book In swarm by Rick Falkvinge, the founder of Pirate Party political movement in Europe. The book is about how Falkvinge founded a political party and transformed it into a decentralized force through a concept called “swarms.”
He elaborates:
“In consensus protocols, there’s this concept of protocols that foster safety and viability. In promoting security, you can never shell out, you reach consensus on everything and then you make progress. Viability-enhancing protocols are constantly bifurcating but making rapid progress, you don’t need to get approval from the entire group to make a move… In the early stages of an organization where you’re focused on growth, you need that liveliness that encourages so you don’t get bogged down in bureaucracy.
A “Bitcoin Maxi” of a different kind
Being a self-declared “Bitcoin Maxi,” Sunny has no doubt that the original cryptocurrency is the best money for the world; but the glacial pace of development doesn’t match her need for constant innovation. That’s why you first worked on the Cosmos infrastructure, “building the appchain layer for Bitcoin.” What are you most excited about right now?
“Definitely the rebirth of Bitcoin. Ordinals changed everything, there was a cultural shift with all the Bitcoin L2s that happened. I’m confident we’ll have a good soft fork in the next year or two.
Wouldn’t this be a detriment to the qualities of sound money and the adoption of Bitcoin as an asset? “It is the limitations of Bitcoin that have caused the need for so many other money-like assets, but now Bitcoin can adapt to more people and offer more features, such as introducing DeFi, privacy, social… there is so much more we can do above Bitcoin now.”
What would Sunny do if he didn’t spend his time disrupting traditional finance? “Hardware.” Before working in the cryptocurrency industry, Sunny studied robotics in school and one day she would like to return to her roots.
“There are several ideas I’ve had. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about smart guns, about having safer firearms, with security systems, like fingerprint scanners so people can’t steal them. He pauses: “I’m really interested in anything that has an important political impact. This is why I got into cryptocurrencies.”
If you want to meet Sunny, follow his staff Twitter OR Osmosis account, or jump on his website for ideas and inspiration. You can also explore the cutting edge of DeFi by trying the Osmosis DES.