The rally in Cosmos (ATOM) continues into Friday, helping the cryptocurrency register weekly gains of over 20% despite a cautious mood towards the overall crypto market lately. At the time of writing, ATOM/USD is trading around $34.07.

One of the biggest drivers of the bullish mood has been the Inter-Blockchain Communication (IBC) protocol running on the Cosmos blockchain – an infrastructure that allows for interoperability among different blockchains via a bridge for seamless transfer of cross-chain data. Since the beginning of this month, activity on the network has witnessed a sharp spike, with IBC transfers (850k+) accounting for a majority share of the number of transactions being handled.

The Popularity of IBC

Launched in February this year, the Cosmos Hub was the first blockchain to run the IBC Protocol – an end-to-end connection oriented protocol for secure data transfer between different kinds of blockchain networks. IBC can be leveraged by developers to create numerous types of cross-chain applications, including token transfers, enforcing smart contracts on multiple chains, and sharing data.

One of the most promising projects operating in the Cosmos ecosystem is Osmosis – an AMM that lets users create liquidity and trade IBC-enabled tokens on its platform. Since mid of August, the trading volume on Osmosis has been rising steadily, peaking at nearly $25 million by 13 September before easing lower. The higher levels of activity on Osmosis increase the usage of the Cosmos blockchain and support the value of ATOM.

Several analysts have also offered a strongly optimistic outlook on the future of Cosmos Network, including the head of Coin Bureau who operates under the pseudonym ‘Guy’ who has called it possibly the most important cryptocurrency project, praising the IBC Protocol for interoperability features essential for the future of the sector. He expects the ATOM token’s value to surge to at least as high at $100, supported by strong fundamentals in the coming weeks.

Key Levels to Watch

Taking a look at the H4 price chart of ATOM/USD, we find a bearish bias among the smaller timeframe moving averages as well as leading technical indicators MACD and momentum. Although, the larger MAs suggest interest among buyers building up too.

Cosmos’s token ATOM is trading above the pivot point at $29.16 at the moment but an increase in selling pressure can drive it lower to test this level. However, if more buyers step into the market soon, we can see the price climb higher towards testing resistance at $40.97 instead.