[IBC] Kickoff IBC Support & Integrations with Axelar & ICF

[Olshansk]

Objective

Kick off IBC support and integration for our Cosmos SDK chain, enabling cross-chain messaging and future interoperability with Axelar and other Cosmos chains.

Origin Document

Initial outreach from Axelar and Cosmos/ICF teams provided key documentation and onboarding steps:

• Axelar onboarding form
• Axelar IBC onboarding doc
• IBC integration guide (cosmos/ibc-go)
• Hermes relayer setup

Goals

• Enable our chain to support IBC messaging via ibc-go
• Establish readiness for relayers and cross-chain test flows
• Lay the groundwork for bridging to Axelar and other chains in the Cosmos ecosystem

Deliverables

• Integrate ibc-go into our chain module
  • [IBC] Prepare pocket for IBC connectivity #1262
• Follow IBC integration guide (obsolete)
• Add Hermes relayer support; follow Hermes docs
  • [IBC Relayer] chore: add IBC relayer chart helm-charts#64
• Confirm testnet readiness and complete Axelar onboarding form
• Coordinate testing with Axelar team

Non-goals / Non-deliverables

• Production mainnet integration with Axelar (handled in separate follow-up issue)
• Bridging stablecoins or tokens (handled after successful relaying and channel setup)

General deliverables

• Comments: Add/update TODOs and inline documentation where needed
• Testing: Add integration tests for IBC transactions
• Makefile: Add targets for IBC setup, relayer commands, and testing
• Documentation: Update dev docs to include IBC setup steps and relayer instructions (include mermaid diagrams if helpful)

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Creator: @Olshansk
Co-Owners: @red-0ne @bryanchriswhite @okdas