Avalanche (blockchain platform)

Avalanche

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; 4 years ago (2020-09-23)
Code repository	https://github.com/ava-labs/
Development status	Active
Written in	Go, TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Vue
Developer(s)	Ava Labs
Source model	Open source
Ledger
Block explorer	https://explorer.avax.network/
Website
Website	https://avax.network/

Avalanche is a decentralized, open-source Layer-1 blockchain that uniquely combines a tri-chain architecture (C-Chain, P-Chain, and X-Chain) with customizable Layer-1 networks (formerly known as “Subnets”), enabling diverse applications and sovereign blockchains within its ecosystem.^[1] It was developed by Ava Labs and launched in 2020.

Avalanche is known for its unique consensus mechanism, called Avalanche Consensus, which combines classical and Nakamoto consensus methods to achieve high throughput and low latency while maintaining decentralization.^[2][3]

History

Avalanche was conceptualized as a consensus protocol that operates efficiently in a network of unreliable machines, addressing both crash-faults and Byzantine faults.^[4] The foundations of Avalanche were first shared in May 2018 through the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) by a pseudonymous group known as "Team Rocket".^[5]

Avalanche was later developed by researchers from Cornell University, led by Emin Gün Sirer and doctoral students Maofan "Ted" Yin and Kevin Sekniqi.^[6] After the initial release phase, they founded a startup 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 as open-source and made publicly available.^[9]

In September 2021, the Ava labs foundation secured a $230 million from a consortium including Polychain Capital and Three Arrows Capital through the purchase of the AVAX cryptocurrency.^[10]

In November 2021, following an agreement with Deloitte to improve U.S. disaster-relief funding, the Avalanche blockchain entered the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.^[11]

In August 2022, the whistleblower group "Crypto Leaks" published a report alleging that Ava Labs had entered secret agreements with the 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.^[12]

In January 2023, a partnership was announced between Avalanche and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to improve Avalanche's infrastructure and decentralized application ecosystem.^[13] 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 2024, Avalanche partnered with Tixbase and Passolig to implement blockchain technology in Turkey’s ticketing industry. The collaboration integrates blockchain-verified tickets into Passolig's system, which handles ticketing for Süper Lig and other events, while also addressing secondary market regulation and introducing NFT-based digital tickets.^[14]

References

1. "What Is Avalanche: From Subnets to Sovereign Layer 1s". CoinGecko. Retrieved 2024-11-28.
2. "Avalanche Consensus". Avalanche Docs. Retrieved 2024-11-28.
3. "Avalanche's Snowman Consensus Protocol - Avalaunch". 2024-01-11. Retrieved 2024-11-28.
4. "Avalanche Documentation". GitHub.
5. Rocket, Team (16 May 2018). "Snowflake to Avalanche: A Novel Metastable Consensus Protocol Family for Cryptocurrencies".
6. "Blockchain startup raises a quick $42M in first sale". Cornell Chronicle.
7. "A Cornell University Crypto Professor Is Launching His Own Coin". Bloomberg.com. Bloomberg. 16 May 2019.
8. Leising, Mathew (April 17, 2020). "New Startup Aims to Prove Blockchain Is Fast Enough for Finance". Bloomberg. Retrieved 27 August 2020.
9. "AVA Labs releases codebase for AVA blockchain platform". Enterprise Times. 17 March 2020.
10. "Avalanche Raises $230 Million From Sale of Surging Crypto Token". Bloomberg. Bloomberg Law. 16 September 2021.
11. "Avalanche Surges Into Crypto Top 10 on Deloitte Deal". Bloomberg Law. 22 November 2021.
12. "Avalanche Crypto News: What's Going On With The Scandal Surrounding AVAX?". forbes.com.
13. Melinek, Jacquelyn (11 January 2023). "AWS partners with Avalanche to Scale Blockchain Solutions for Enterprises, Governments". TechCrunch. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
14. Spurway, Genevieve (29 August 2024). "Tixbase secures partnership with Turkish ticketing business Passo". TheTicketingBusiness. Retrieved 2 December 2024.