Avalanche bets on purpose-built chains as AVAX builders shrug off short-term hype

Ava Labs’ John Nahas says Avalanche is betting on sovereign, purpose-built blockchains, targeting ~200 institutional and enterprise chains across finance and AI.

Ava Labs is pursuing a long-term strategy focused on purpose-built blockchains as the cryptocurrency market continues to cycle through short-term trends, according to the company’s chief business officer.

John Nahas, chief business officer at Ava Labs, discussed Avalanche’s (AVAX) expansion across traditional finance, global brands, and enterprise operators in an interview with TheStreet Roundtable’s Jackson Hinkle.

Nahas attributed the network’s growth to Avalanche’s underlying architecture and its focus on building blockchains designed for specific use cases rather than following short-term market trends.

Avalanche and the direction of AVA Labs

“If you hyper-focus on the crypto narratives that are on crypto Twitter, or these things that come and go for three or four months, you’re always playing catch-up,” Nahas stated. “Where we’ve been successful is in the medium to long term. Things that are worth doing take time.”

Avalanche, which regularly ranks among the top 15 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, is positioning itself around the thesis that cryptocurrency’s next phase will be built around sovereign, purpose-built layer-1 blockchains rather than a single chain serving all functions.

According to Nahas, much of the industry operates on what he described as a “first-generation business plan” based on the assumption that all activity will eventually settle on one network.

“We don’t need more block space. We don’t need more blockchains,” Nahas said. “But we do need more blockchains that are purpose-built, because that’s how the real world works.”

The company’s enterprise roster reflects this approach. “Banks want their own environment. Asset managers want their own environment. Enterprises want their own environment,” Nahas explained.

Toyota is building four distinct Avalanche chains, each designed for a different workflow, according to Nahas. FIFA and SMBC in Japan are also building independent environments on the platform.

Avalanche supports private permissioned, public permissionless, and hybrid chains that can all interoperate, according to the company.

“Effectively, you are giving people solutions rather than giving them a solution in search of a problem,” Nahas said.

The platform is approaching 80 Avalanche layer-one blockchains with over 100 on testnet, according to Nahas. He projected that around 200 institutional and enterprise chains will be operating across finance, identity, artificial intelligence and government by next year.