Lava Network Launches with Support from Major Blockchain Entities

Filecoin (FIL) is up by 7.74%, following the Lava Network’s phased mainnet launch and airdrop of 55 million LAVA tokens, supported by the Starknet Foundation and Cosmos Hub. Other projects, such as Axelar and NEAR, have also shown support.

Founded in 2022, Lava is a modular blockchain designed to facilitate data access for other projects via remote procedure calls (RPCs). It operates similarly to the Celestia network, emphasizing ‘data availability.’

Node operators are incentivized to join Lava and offer RPC services through rewards pools, distributed based on user interaction and qualitative metrics like speed, uptime, and accuracy. The project plans to begin with $2 million in incentives for mainnet participants.

This model allows blockchain projects like NEAR or Axelar to attract node infrastructure providers for application data services through Lava’s platform. Despite being experimental, Lava reports over 40 billion RPC requests processed during its testnet phase.

Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of NEAR Protocol, stated, “Lava Network’s incentive pools are decentralizing the NEAR RPC layer by creating a competitive market and bringing more providers. This has improved the experience for NEAR app developers and users.”

Prominent RPC users include Google Cloud, which operates nine nodes for Ethereum data.

Lava Network has gained significant attention from both technical users and investors. Last year, it completed a $15 million seed round co-led by Jump Capital, Hashkey Capital, and Tribe Capital, and the Lava Foundation raised $11 million from Animoca Brands, CoinGecko Ventures, and Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal in May.

The project is also experimenting with its tokenomics, starting with a high token circulation and capped supply, contrasting with many recent projects that gradually inflate token supply, which can negatively impact prices.

Lava Head of Marketing Ethan Luc stated, “We believe this approach is how all crypto protocols should be built – prioritizing community and sustainability, not only VCs.”