Avalanche raises $250m to fuel L1 upgrade

Avalanche has secured $250 million in a fundraising round led by Dragonfly, ParaFi Capital, and Galaxy Digital.

The Avalanche (AVAX) blockchain raised the funds through token sales from over 40 investment ventures to support its ambitious Layer-1 blockchain overhaul, dubbed “Avalanche9000.” The $250 million injection will be used to develop technology aimed at reducing transaction costs and attracting more network validators, according to a statement from the L1 protocol.

Avalanche announced that the upgrade would slash on-chain application deployment costs by 99%, significantly lowering the entry barrier for both new and existing AVAX developers.

The Avalanche9000 upgrade is currently live on a testnet, providing developers with a space to conduct “blockchain dress rehearsals.” Network upgrades typically roll out on testnets before their deployment on the mainnet. Additionally, Avalanche announced $40 million in grants to incentivize developer activity. Previous reports stated that on-chain activity increased after the testnet and reward announcements.

Jason Urban, Galaxy Digital’s global head of trading, described the $250 million raise as a crucial step for blockchain’s future. Dragonfly also expressed high expectations for the AVAX upgrade, as highlighted by managing partner Haseeb Qureshi.

Ben Forman, ParaFi Capital’s founder and managing partner, stated:

Architectural advantages like fast transaction finality and high throughput, combined with customizable virtual machines, make it an ideal platform for securely and compliantly issuing and managing tokenized assets. The upcoming Avalanche9000 upgrade marks a leap forward in scalability and innovation, positioning Avalanche as a leading ecosystem for asset tokenization.

Ben Forman, ParaFi Capital founder and managing partner

AVAX surged 10% amid a market-wide crypto recovery in the last 24 hours. The asset cost $53.23 per coin at press time.