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|
 Icon of Avalanche | |
| Denominations | |
|---|---|
| Code | AVAX |
| Development | |
| Original author(s) | Emin Gün Sirer,Kevin Sekniqi, Maofan “Ted” Yin |
| White paper | https://www.avalabs.org/whitepapers |
| Initial release | 23 September 2020; 5 years ago (2020-09-23) |
| Code repository | https://github.com/ava-labs/ |
| Development status | Active |
| Written in | Go, TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Vue |
| Developer | Ava Labs |
| Source model | Open source |
| Ledger | |
| Block explorer | https://explorer.avax.network/ |
| Website | |
| Website | https://avax.network/ |
Avalanche is adecentralized,open-sourceLayer-1 blockchain platform developed byAva Labs and launched in September 2020.[1]
Avalanche’s architecture features three core blockchains—the X-Chain (Exchange Chain), C-Chain (Contract Chain), and P-Chain (Platform Chain)—working together to respectively manage funds, smart contracts, and network coordination.[2][3]
Avalanche was conceptualized as aconsensus protocol that operates efficiently in a network of unreliable machines, addressing both crash-faults andByzantine faults.[4] The foundations of Avalanche were first shared in May 2018 through theInterPlanetary File System (IPFS) by a pseudonymous group known as "Team Rocket".[5][non-primary source needed]
Avalanche was later developed by researchers fromCornell University, led byEmin Gün Sirer and doctoral students Maofan "Ted" Yin and Kevin Sekniqi.[6] After the initial release phase, they founded astartup technology company to develop a blockchain network that would meet finance industry requirements.[7][8][6] In March, 2020, the AVA codebase, part of the Developer Accelerator Program or AVA DAP) for the Avalanche consensus protocol, was released asopen-source and made publicly available.[9]
In September 2021, the Ava labs foundation secured a $230 million from a consortium includingPolychain Capital andThree Arrows Capital through the purchase of theAVAX cryptocurrency.[10]
In November 2021, following an agreement withDeloitte to improve U.S. disaster-relief funding, the Avalanche blockchain entered the top 10 cryptocurrencies bymarket capitalization.[11]
In January 2023, a partnership was announced between Avalanche andAmazon Web Services (AWS) to improve Avalanche's infrastructure and decentralized application ecosystem.[12]Arkham Intelligence also announced a partnership with Avalanche, allowing Arkham users to analyze the activities of wallets and entities within the Avalanche ecosystem.
In August 2022, the whistleblower group "Crypto Leaks" published a report alleging that Ava Labs had entered secret agreements withKyle Roche of Roche Freedmen law firm with the intent to legally undermine Avalanche's competitors.Emin Gün Sirer, the CEO of Ava Labs, denied any involvement in illegal or unethical dealings with Roche Freedmen law firm.[13]
In June 2023, Messari's analysts have questioned validator decentralization onAvalanche,Solana,NEAR, and others blockchain platforms. Messari study found profiled Avalanche’s operational decentralization, measuring validator and stake distribution by software client, hosting infrastructure, and geography. The analysis reported validators spread across roughly 39 countries (with the United States and Germany most represented), an estimated ~67% of staked AVAX hosted on AWS (implying a hosting operational Nakamoto coefficient of 1), and an aggregated operational coefficient of about 1.3. Among the surveyed networks, Avalanche also showed the highest share of stake in underrepresented regions (≈8.2%), while like peers - relying on a single validator client at the time.[14]
In August 2024, Avalanche partnered withTixbase andPassolig to implement blockchain technology in Turkey’s ticketing industry. The collaboration integrated blockchain-verified tickets into Passolig's system, which handles ticketing forSüper Lig and other events.[15]
In December 2024, Avalanche raised $250 million (USD) through token sale for the "Avalanche9000" upgrade.[16]
