Buy Cosmos Hub (ATOM)

Where can I buy Cosmos?

You can buy Cosmos at various European exchanges from as little as € 5. We list only exchanges with a MiCA authorisation. Since 30 December 2024 the MiCA regulation applies across the European Union, and national transition arrangements for previously registered firms ended in the course of 2025, so a national registration alone is no longer enough. You pay by credit card, SEPA bank transfer or Wero.

The Cosmos price and volatility

The first thing to know about crypto is that these are risky assets. The ATOM price moves quickly, so take that volatility into account before you invest. The chart below gives an impression of how the price has moved over time. Put in only money you can afford to lose. An authorisation of the exchange says something about supervision, not about that price risk.

What is Cosmos?

Cosmos is often called the internet of blockchains. It is not a single chain but a whole ecosystem of independent blockchains that can communicate with one another. The basis for that is the Inter-Blockchain Communication protocol (IBC), which lets different networks exchange tokens and messages. Developers build those networks with the Cosmos SDK and the underlying consensus mechanism, originally called Tendermint and since developed into CometBFT.

The central chain in this ecosystem is the Cosmos Hub, with ATOM as its coin. The project grew out of the work of Jae Kwon and Ethan Buchman, who started with Tendermint; the Cosmos Hub went live in 2019. ATOM has no fixed maximum number of coins: new ATOM is added as a reward for those who help secure the network.

Staking ATOM

Cosmos works with a form of Proof of Stake. You can delegate your ATOM to a validator that secures the network and receive a reward. This can be done directly from a wallet of your own or at an exchange that offers staking. Keep in mind that a validator that misbehaves can lose part of the stake, that there is a waiting period when unstaking, and that staking through an exchange means your ATOM sits with a third party, usually for a fee taken from the reward.

Storing Cosmos in a wallet

After your purchase, your ATOM sits in the exchange wallet, which controls the keys. For control yourself, send ATOM to a wallet of your own. Your options:

• Exchange wallet: built in at the exchange, easy, but you do not hold the keys
• Software wallet: Keplr or Leap, built for the Cosmos ecosystem
• Hardware wallet: a device such as a Ledger or Trezor with your keys kept offline, safest for larger amounts

A self-held wallet provides a recovery phrase of usually twelve or twenty-four words. That phrase is full access to your ATOM, so keep it offline, keep it private and never take a picture of it. Without it your Cosmos is unrecoverable.

How do I choose an exchange to buy Cosmos?

Many exchanges offer Cosmos, so you have a choice. We only show exchanges with a MiCA authorisation, where a KYC check is always mandatory. Look at:

• The trading fees and the spread
• The regulator behind the MiCA authorisation
• Whether ATOM is offered and whether you can stake
• The liquidity and the range of other coins
• The available payment methods (credit card, SEPA bank transfer or Wero)

The Cosmos price can be just as volatile with or without an authorisation. Decide for yourself how much you can afford to lose and do your own research.