Although currently holding a treasury of $3 billion, Avalanche – a formidable competitor to Ethereum – continues to raise funds amid signs of a strong recovery in the crypto market.
It feels like 2021 is returning – at least for the Avalanche Foundation headquartered in the British Virgin Islands. Recently, the company successfully raised $250 million through a private token sale for its blockchain platform, a large fundraising method that has become rare in the current crypto winter. This fundraising was led by reputable investors such as Galaxy Digital, Dragonfly, and ParaFi Capital, along with over 40 other companies, including SkyBridge and Morgan Creek Digital, organizations that believe in the market's strong resilience.
Despite having strong financial resources, the Avalanche Foundation asserts that their fundraising goal is not to address financial issues. According to estimates from Forbes, the company's treasury currently holds about $3 billion in AVAX tokens. Avalanche co-founder Emin Gün Sirer shared:
"Our main goal is to achieve unity and encourage the right partners to build together."
This is not the first time Avalanche has conducted a large-scale fundraising. In December 2021, when the cryptocurrency market peaked, the company successfully raised $230 million through a similar token sale.
Avalanche9000: A breakthrough in development strategy
On December 16, Avalanche will launch the “Avalanche9000” upgrade – one of the platform's most significant improvements, promising to significantly reduce the costs of initializing a blockchain in the ecosystem. Previously, setting up a node cost 2,000 AVAX (equivalent to about $48), but after the upgrade, validators will only need to pay 1.33 AVAX each month in the form of a subscription.
This move is part of Avalanche's strategy to reinforce its multi-chain vision, with the belief that no one size fits all. Gün Sirer emphasized:
"A single chain cannot meet all needs, no matter how fast it is. A multi-chain architecture is key to sustainable development in the future."
The success of the Avalanche ecosystem
Avalanche's direction seems to be reaping success. The battle royale game “Off The Grid,” developed on the Avalanche platform, became the most downloaded free game on the Epic Games Store just three days after opening early access in October.
Avalanche is also attracting large funds, such as BlackRock’s USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL), the world's largest tokenized fund with total assets under management of $561.5 million, which has now transferred part of its operations to Avalanche, along with Franklin Templeton's OnChain U.S. Government Money Market Fund. Additionally, ParaFi Capital, one of the key investors, also moved part of its venture capital fund to Avalanche in September, reinforcing confidence in the platform's growth and appeal in the DeFi space.
Jason Urban, global trading director at Galaxy, said:
"We collaborate with partners who share the same vision to expand Avalanche's presence in the institutional investor community, thereby promoting the platform's ability to innovate and scale."
Regulatory advantages and the ability to attract investors
Haseeb Qureshi, managing partner at Dragonfly, stated that the clear regulatory policies under the Trump administration were a key factor that helped Avalanche prepare to attract a new wave of investment.
"Avalanche is opening up opportunities for new investors to participate. To build at this scale, especially for traditional companies, significant resources are required."
With strategic moves and continuous development, Avalanche is gradually asserting its position in the blockchain market, creating opportunities for partners and investors to grow together in the future.