Avalanche is a smart contracts platform for creating DApps, aiming to solve the blockchain trilemma. It was developed in 2020 by Ava Labs which was founded in 2018 by Emin Gün Sirer, Kevin Sekniqi, and Maofan “Ted” Yin. The whitepaper that led to the creation of Ava Labs was inspired by Gün Sirer’s research concerning the Ethereum blockchain.
The Avalanche network allows its users to build Solidity-compatible DApps and consists of three interoperable blockchains: Exchange (X) chain, Platform (P) chain, and Contract (C) chain. Each chain performs a specific function, where the X-chain allows to create and exchange assets, the C-chain executes smart contracts and is EVM compatible, and the P-chain is utilized for L1 and L2 blockchain creation. Smart contracts, the Proof of Stake consensus mechanism, and the three blockchain system increases security, decreases costs, and allow 4,500 transactions per second to take place. AVAX, the native token of the Avalance network and another important part of it, is used for paying transaction fees which are all burnt, staking in exchange for rewards which can go up to 11% and is required for generating subnets and creating assets.
In January 2022, Avalanche announced that Banksy’s “Love Is In The Air” will be available in a form of NFT on the Avalanche network as a part of the Particle Collection’s NFT drop. The artwork will be split into ten thousand pieces which will then be sold individually as NFTs.