AVAX (Avalanche) is the native token of the high-performance blockchain platform Avalanche, whose development journey integrates technological innovation, market fluctuations, and ecosystem expansion. Here are its origins and key development phases:
I. Technical Origins and Founding Team (2018-2020)
1. Inspiration and Whitepaper
- In May 2018, an anonymous team called “Team Rocket” released a new consensus protocol draft through the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), proposing a mechanism for high-speed transaction confirmation through random sampling verification.
- Cornell University Computer Science Professor Emin Gün Sirer and his PhD students Kevin Sekniqi and Maofan “Ted” Yin further developed on this basis, open-sourcing the Avalanche codebase (AVA Labs) in March 2020.
2. Company establishment and financing
- Ava Labs was established in New York, USA in 2019, completed a $6 million financing in 2020, and raised $42 million through private and public token sales in July of the same year (public sale price $0.5/AVAX).
- II. Token Issuance and Initial Distribution (2020)
- Mainnet launch: September 21, 2020, Avalanche mainnet officially launched, AVAX was born as the native token.
- Token distribution:
- Private sale and seed round: 52.5%
- Public offering (ICO): 28.5%
- Ava Labs team: 10%
- Community and ecosystem fund: 5%
- R&D reserve: 4%
- Total supply cap: 720 million tokens, achieved deflation through burning transaction fees.
- III. Technical Architecture and Core Innovations
Avalanche addresses the “trilemma” (decentralization, security, scalability) with a three-layer blockchain:
1. X-Chain: Asset creation and trading, using Avalanche consensus (sub-second confirmation).
2. C-Chain: Compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM), supports smart contract migration.
3. P-Chain: Coordinates validators, supports customizable subnets, enabling infinite scalability.
Performance advantages:
- Throughput: 6,500 TPS (far exceeding Ethereum's 15 TPS)
- Transaction fees: As low as a few cents, fee burning mechanism reduces circulating supply.
- IV. Key Development Phases and Milestones
2020-2021: Ecosystem launch and explosive growth
- September 2020: Mainnet launch, initial price around $3.
- 2021:
- Launch of the “Avalanche Rush” program, investing $180 million to incentivize DeFi projects (such as Aave, Curve) to migrate to its network.
- Collaborated with Deloitte to build a disaster relief platform and integrated with Tether to issue USDT.
- Price surged to $146 in November (all-time high), market cap entered the top ten.
2022-2023: Market winter and resilient recovery
- May 2022: Affected by the Federal Reserve's interest rate hikes and the LUNA collapse, AVAX plummeted to $17 (a drop of over 85%).
- Ecosystem progress:
- Subnet technology implementation, with game chains (like DeFi Kingdoms) and institutional chains (like Securitize) deployed successively.
- In 2023, partnerships with Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Tencent Cloud to promote enterprise blockchain solutions.
From 2024 to now: Real-world assets (RWA) and cross-chain expansion
- RWA dominance: The Euro stablecoin EUROC processes 98% of RWA transaction volume on Avalanche.
- Technical upgrade: Launch of "Avalanche9000", enhancing subnet interoperability and throughput.
- Price fluctuations: Rose to $65 in March 2024 before retracing, stabilizing around $26 in October.
- V. Current Status and Future Direction
- Ecosystem scale:
- TVL (Total Value Locked) increased from $500 million in October 2023 to $1 billion in 2024.
- Active projects exceed 800, covering DeFi (Trader Joe), NFTs (Hyperspace), games (Shrapnel).
- Challenges:
- Increased competition (L1 tracks such as Solana, Polygon).
- Regulatory uncertainty (especially regarding U.S. SEC policies).
- Long-term vision:
- Promoting RWA tokenization (such as California DMV vehicle ownership digitization project).
- Exploring the possibility of Avalanche ETF to attract traditional financial institutions.
- Key Milestones in AVAX Development
| Time | Event | Significance |
| May 2018 | Team Rocket releases consensus draft | Formation of technological prototype |
| September 2020 | Mainnet launch, AVAX birth | Officially entered the market |
| November 2021 | Price reached all-time high of $146 | Market cap entered the top ten in cryptocurrency |
| May 2022 | Plummeted to $17 | Affected by overall market correction |
| 2023 | Collaborated with Amazon Cloud and Tencent Cloud | Promoting enterprise-level blockchain applications |
| 2024 | RWA transactions dominate, Avalanche9000 upgrade | Expanding real asset tokenization, improving network performance |
The journey of AVAX showcases the interplay of technological innovation and market cycles. Its core advantages—high speed, low cost, customizable subnets—continue to drive ecosystem expansion, but it must evolve continuously in regulatory adaptability and cross-chain competition.