Avalanche Raises $250 Million for Expansion

Layer 1 blockchain project Avalanche has raised $250 million through a locked token sale led by Galaxy Digital, Dragonfly, and ParaFi Capital. The tokens sold have specific vesting or lock-up periods.

Other notable participants in the sale include SkyBridge, SCB Limited, Hivemind, Big Brain Holdings, Hypersphere, Lvna Capital, Republic Capital, Morgan Creek Digital, FinTech Collective, CMCC Global, Superscrypt, Cadenza, Chorus One, and Tané Labs.

> “The primary goal was to get alignment and incentivize the right kinds of partners to build with,” said Avalanche co-founder Emin Gün Sirer. He estimates that the Avalanche Foundation currently holds around $3 billion in AVAX tokens, having previously raised $230 million in a similar token sale led by Polychain in 2021.

Supporting the Avalanche9000 Upgrade

The recent investment will support the Avalanche9000 upgrade, which was launched on testnet in November, featuring over $40 million in retroactive rewards for developers. The upgrade aims to facilitate scalable, purpose-built Layer 1 chains, and aims to reduce blockchain deployment costs by 99.9% and transaction fees by 25 times.

> “Our support of Avalanche, and the growth and scalability of blockchain protocols, is essential to the future of this industry,” said Jason Urban, Galaxy Global Head of Trading. “Galaxy is providing Avalanche with strategic resources and services vital for fostering institutional participation and long-term growth.”

The project highlights that over 500 Layer 1 chains are in development across various sectors including tokenization of real-world assets, loyalty programs, gaming, payments, and institutional initiatives like DeFi Kingdoms, Dexalot, Off The Grid, and Lamina1.

> “Avalanche is uniquely positioned to be a driving force in the evolution of on-chain institutional finance,” stated Ben Forman, founder of ParaFi Capital. Its architectural strengths such as fast transaction finality, high throughput, and customizable virtual machines make it an ideal platform for managing tokenized assets.

The Avalanche9000 mainnet upgrade is scheduled for rollout on December 16, focusing on improved scalability, streamlined development, and enhanced resources for builders of decentralized applications.

Earlier on Thursday, Uplink became the first decentralized physical infrastructure network (DePIN) platform to launch on Avalanche, aiming to decentralize internet connectivity by incentivizing users to share existing networks and establish new infrastructure in underserved regions.