The Avalanche Foundation has successfully raised $250 million in a private token sale to support its blockchain platform, as announced in a press release on December 12. This funding round saw participation from around 40 investors, including prominent firms like Galaxy Digital, Dragonfly, and ParaFi Capital.
Following the announcement, there was a notable 10% surge in the price of Avalanche’s AVAX token, reaching $52. This uptrend reflects a 52% increase in the token’s value over the past month.
The key highlight of this funding round is the upcoming Avalanche9000 upgrade scheduled for December 16. This upgrade is poised to revolutionize blockchain costs and scalability by significantly reducing Layer-1 deployment costs on Avalanche by 99.9% and slashing transaction fees on its C-Chain by 25 times. The aim is to support Avalanche’s multi-chain vision, enabling horizontal scalability across various industries such as gaming, payments, loyalty programs, and real-world asset tokenization.
The network already has over 500 Layer-1 chains in development, with institutional giants like BlackRock and Franklin Templeton leveraging Avalanche for their tokenized funds. Haseeb Qureshi, Managing Partner at Dragonfly, hailed the upgrade as a transformative moment for blockchain development, emphasizing Avalanche’s unique position to drive growth in the Web3 and blockchain scalability space.
To prepare for the Avalanche9000 upgrade, the testnet introduced Retro9000, along with a $40 million retroactive grant program. This initiative includes $2 million in referral rewards for developers building on the platform.
Kevin Sekniqi, co-founder of Ava Labs, expressed confidence in Avalanche’s potential to outpace Ethereum, Solana, and other chains combined in transaction volume. He emphasized Avalanche’s multi-chain model, stating that the network’s aggregate activity will surpass that of other leading chains in the near future.
As of the latest data on December 13, 2024, Avalanche is ranked #11 by market cap, with a price increase of 9.39% over the past 24 hours. The market capitalization stands at $21.79 billion, with a trading volume of $1.85 billion. In the broader crypto market, the total valuation is $3.61 trillion, with a 24-hour volume of $212.16 billion and Bitcoin dominance at 54.95%.
In summary, the recent funding round and upcoming Avalanche9000 upgrade signify a significant milestone for Avalanche, positioning it as a frontrunner in blockchain innovation and scalability. The network’s multi-chain approach and focus on reducing costs and enhancing scalability are expected to drive further growth and adoption in the decentralized finance ecosystem.