Cosmos traces its origins to 2014 with the founding of Tendermint, a key technology contributor to the network. In 2016, the Cosmos white paper was released, followed by a token sale in 2017 to support the project’s growth. The network was developed by Tendermint’s co-founders Jae Kwon, Zarko Milosevic, and Ethan Buchman, who played pivotal roles in shaping the Cosmos ecosystem. Jae Kwon stepped down as CEO in 2020 but remains the principal architect, while Peng Zhong took over leadership. The Cosmos Hub, the first blockchain on the network, was created to facilitate communication between independent blockchains, known as "zones." The Cosmos SDK was introduced to help developers build custom blockchains using Tendermint’s consensus algorithm.