What Is Avalanche9000 and How Will this Network Upgrade Impact Avalanche?
Avalanche recently unveiled Avalanche9000, its largest upgrade since the launch of the high-performance blockchain network's mainnet. Rolled out on December 16, 2024, it enhanced cross-chain interoperability and removed important barriers to deploying Layer 1 chains on top of the Primary Network.
In this article, we will take a look at Avalanche9000, its implemented changes, as well as the outcomes and future implications of the upgrade.
What Is Avalanche (AVAX)?
Avalanche is a high-performance Layer 1 (L1) network launched in September 2020. From tokenised real-world assets (RWAs) to memecoins and decentralised finance (DeFi), it fulfils a wide range of use cases in the crypto space. Avalanche aims to solve the blockchain trilemma through three core components:
The unique, Proof-of-Stake-based (PoS) Avalanche Consensus mechanism.
The Primary Network, which serves as the backbone for Avalanche's multi-chain architecture and consists of the Contract Chain (C-Chain), the Platform Chain (P-Chain), and the Exchange Chain (X-Chain).
A collection of numerous sovereign networks called Subnets, which will be rebranded to Avalanche L1s after the Avalanche9000 upgrade.
Leveraging the above key components, Avalanche can achieve enhanced scalability, decentralisation, and security. In addition to the theoretical maximum transactions per second (TPS) of 357, the high-performance network can achieve finality in only 2 seconds. On top of that, its compatibility with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) ensures interoperability with other EVM chains and streamlines decentralised application (dApp) development for project teams.
Avalanche's blockchain network is powered by the native AVAX token, which is currently ranked as the 11th top cryptocurrency by market capitalisation. As of December 13, 2024, AVAX's price stands at $51.87, with a $21.24 billion market cap and a $1.78 billion volume in the last 24 hours.
What is Avalanche9000?
Avalanche9000 is the largest network upgrade the high-performance blockchain network has undergone to date. It streamlines the launch of L1 chains (formerly known as Subnets) in terms of costs, ease of customisation, and time to market.
Avalanche 9000 includes a complete suite of upgrades, as detailed below:
ACP-77: Outlines a new framework for validator management for Avalanche L1s, with the goal of creating low-cost and natively interoperable blockchains on top of the network. The main components of this upgrade include rebranding Subnets to Layer 1s, separating L1 validators from Primary Network validators, moving the ownership of L1 validator set management from the P-chain to L1s, and introducing a continuous P-chain fee mechanism for L1 validators.
ACP-125: Reduces the minimum base fee on the Avalanche C-Chain from 25 nAVAX to 1 nAVAX to remove barriers to network usage.
ACP-103: Introduces a dynamic fee mechanism to the P-Chain and the X-Chain. As an alternative to ACP-83, ACP-103 also serves as a preview for the future transition to a multidimensional fee mechanism.
ACP-113: Proposes a mechanism to generate verifiable, non-cryptographic random number seeds, enabling developers to build more versatile dApps.
ACP-20: Introduces support for Ed25519 TLS certificates for peer-to-peer (P2P) communications in the Avalanche network, authorising them for Avalanche Network Client (ANC) NodeIDs and in the ProposerVM.
ACP-131: Enables Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) opcodes and opcodes changes introduced by five Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) in the Ethereum Dencun upgrade.
ACP-118: Proposes a new standard format type for AppRequest payloads to simplify signature aggregator implementations.
As you can see, the most important Avalanche9000 changes are introduced in ACP-77.
Prior to the Avalanche Control Plan's implementation, each node operator had to stake 2,000 AVAX (worth $103,740 as of December 13, 2024) to first become a validator in the Primary Network and then on a Layer 1. According to Avalanche, most of their L1s aim to launch with at least eight L1 validators, requiring them to stake a total of 16,000 AVAX ($829,920). Moreover, they were also required to allocate 8 AWS vCPU, 16 GB RAM, and 1 TB storage for syncing the Primary Network and participating in its consensus.
The above requirements have significantly increased the barrier to entry for many projects that sought to launch their L1s on Avalanche. Moreover, it also made it impossible for regulated entities that are prohibited from validating permissionless blockchains to deploy their Layer 1s in the blockchain network.
Avalanche9000 and ACP-77 eliminate all these barriers, enabling market players to launch L1s on Avalanche without becoming Primary Network validators or staking 2,000 AVAX per validator. Instead, Layer 1s will pay a substantially cheaper dynamic fee to Primary Network validators.
Moreover, moving validator set management from the P-Chain to individual L1 smart contracts enables Layer 1s to manage their validators themselves instead. As a result, L1s deployed on Avalanche can take advantage of full control over chain customisation, open and permissionless validator sets to enhance decentralisation, built-in regulatory compliance with geo-restrictions and custom permissions, and scaling with any virtual machine to maximise performance.
Simultaneously, L1s can leverage Avalanche Interchain Messaging (ACM) for interoperability with other L1s and take advantage of a shared liquidity hub.
Expectations and Future Outlook
Rolled out on December 16, 2024, Avalanche9000 removed critical barriers for launching Layer 1s on top of the high-performance blockchain network while improving cross-chain interoperability.
Consequently, Avalanche9000 is expected to incentivise the growth of the Avalanche ecosystem by fostering the deployment of more L1s. At the same time, interoperability between Layer 1 chains makes Avalanche an even more attractive choice for organisations, as they will be able to target a wider audience with their applications.
Prior to the launch of Avalanche9000, Avalanche raised a whopping $250 million in a round led by Galaxy Digital, Dragonfly, and ParaFi Capital, which will serve as a solid foundation for the high-performance blockchain network to achieve its future goals with Avalanche9000 at its core.
To gain exposure to Avalanche and take advantage of the Avalanche9000 upgrade, you can buy, stake or lend AVAX on VALR.
Risk Disclosure
Trading or investing in crypto assets is risky and may result in the loss of capital as the value may fluctuate. VALR (Pty) Ltd is a licensed financial services provider (FSP #53308).
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article are the personal views of the author and should not form the basis for making investment decisions, nor be construed as a recommendation or advice to engage in investment transactions.
