Most people only notice a blockchain when it becomes loud. When DEX volume accelerates, memecoins run, gas fees rise, and the timeline starts repeating the same narrative, it becomes easy to say that an ecosystem is “back.”

Avalanche is moving through a quieter phase right now, but the underlying network picture is more stable than the surface activity suggests.

The latest Nansen AI snapshot shows a network that is still dealing with muted speculation, low fees, and cautious Smart Money behavior. But beneath that quieter surface, several core signals have improved. AVAX exchange outflows are significant, fresh wallet inflows have surged, sAVAX continues to show demand, BTC.b is seeing exchange outflows, and Avalanche L1 activity remains meaningful.

At first glance, that can look discouraging, but it is also not a clean distribution phase either. The better read is that Avalanche remains in consolidation, now with a stronger accumulation bias than the prior snapshot.

All onchain figures in this article are based on the Nansen AI and DeFiLlama snapshot provided for June 11, 2026 and should be read as a point-in-time analysis rather than a permanent state of the Avalanche ecosystem. This is not financial advice, and it is not a call to buy or sell AVAX. It is a data-driven look at what the network is showing beneath the surface.

The Network is Quieter

The current network data shows that Avalanche is not in a high-fee, high-speculation cycle. Chain fees remain very low, with 24-hour chain fees and revenue at $2,068. That tells us blockspace demand is not intense right now.

At the same time, the data points to a network that is very much alive and scaling. The latest snapshot shows 735,756 daily active addresses, 37 transactions per second, 14.1B all-time transactions, 81.6M contracts deployed, and 81 active Avalanche L1s.

DeFi activity is also still present, though not accelerating aggressively. Avalanche TVL is currently around $455.02M, with $1.412B in stablecoin market cap and $84.48M in 24h DEX volume.

The surface read is clear. This is not a network relying on noise. It is a network with a real activity base, steady usage, and infrastructure that continues to compound beneath the market’s attention.

USDC Flows are the Strongest Constructive Signal

Stablecoin behavior remains one of the most important areas to watch.

In the latest snapshot, USDC showed -$6.5M in exchange outflows over 24h and -$2.7M over 7d. Fresh wallets saw +$20.2M in USDC inflows over 24h, about 2.3x the average. Top PnL wallets also showed +$3.3M in USDC inflows over 7d, around 3.9x above average.

This does not automatically mean aggressive risk-on deployment. Stablecoins can move for many reasons: self-custody, DeFi positioning, treasury movement, bridge routing, market-making, or simply waiting onchain.

But it does show that stablecoin capital is not disappearing from Avalanche. It is still moving through the network. That matters because stablecoins are the dry powder of any ecosystem. If Avalanche is going to move from consolidation toward stronger activity, USDC behavior is one of the first places to watch.

sAVAX Remains One of the Strongest Internal Signals

Liquid staking continues to be one of the more resilient parts of the Avalanche ecosystem. The latest data shows sAVAX with a $175.6M market cap, 16,112 holders, and a healthy 1.26x ratio to AVAX. The 24h buy/sell data is especially strong: $100.1K buy volume versus $22.5K sell volume, a 4.4:1 buy dominance.

Over 7d, sAVAX also showed -$526.9K in exchange outflows, around 1.5x above average. Fresh wallets added +$412.3K, while Top PnL wallets added +$99.9K.

This is important because liquid staking tends to represent a more patient type of participation. Users are not necessarily chasing the highest-risk trades. They are keeping AVAX exposure productive.

BTC.b Remains Meaningful

BTC.b also remains an important part of Avalanche’s DeFi identity. The current snapshot shows BTC.b with a $163.4M market cap, 30,739 holders, $15.8M in 24h volume, and $1.1B in reported liquidity.

The 7D flow data is constructive at the exchange level. BTC.b showed -$4.8M in exchange outflows, around 1.9x above average. Fresh wallets also added +$631.5K.

There is still nuance. Top PnL wallets showed -$1.7M in BTC.b outflow over 7d, so this is not a purely bullish signal. But the broader picture suggests BTC liquidity is still moving through Avalanche rails and has not disappeared from the ecosystem.

That matters because BTC.b is not just another speculative token. It is part of Avalanche’s infrastructure story: Bitcoin liquidity moving through DeFi.

Consolidation with Accumulation Bias

The data does not point to one breakout Avalanche narrative. It points to capital clustering closer to the core: AVAX moving off exchanges, fresh wallets becoming active, stablecoins staying onchain and infrastructure assets like sAVAX, BTC.b, WAVAX, Aave and Avalanche L1s remaining relevant.

That is the important distinction. Avalanche is not being carried by the loudest speculative wave right now. It is being supported by the rails that keep liquidity, users, and activity inside the ecosystem. Aave remains a key lending venue to watch, sAVAX shows liquid-staking demand, BTC.b keeps Bitcoin liquidity active on Avalanche rails, WAVAX flow remains balanced, and Avalanche L1s continue to represent the infrastructure layer where future activity can become more visible.

So the current phase should be read carefully: not full expansion, not distribution and not a clean sector rotation. It is consolidation with accumulation bias. The next confirmation will come when exchange outflows and fresh wallet activity turn into sustained onchain deployment, Smart Traders return, and Avalanche L1s show clearer growth. Until then, the best description is simple: Avalanche is not chasing noise. It is holding the core.

Looking to join the global community live? Registration is now open for Avalanche Summit NYC. Secure your pass today for 2 days of exclusive keynotes and networking.

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Most crypto conferences are not worth attending. The panels are repetitive, the announcements are thin, and the networking rarely leads anywhere meaningful. The Avalanche Summit is one of the few events that has consistently attracted builders, founders, investors, and developers focused on actually shipping products.

Organized by Ava Labs and the Avalanche Foundation, the Summit has built a reputation as one of the most builder-focused conferences in Web3. The next edition takes place September 16–17, 2026, at Chelsea Industrial in New York City.

What Makes It Different

A few things stand out immediately:

• Past Summits have been held in distinctive venues ranging from historic estates to industrial event spaces

• The focus tends to be on infrastructure, applications, and ecosystem development rather than short-term market narratives

• Many attendees return year after year because of the quality of conversations and networking opportunities

Builders, investors, and founders who attend consistently point to the depth of discussion and the strength of the community as reasons they keep coming back.

How the Summit Has Evolved

Barcelona 2022 and 2023

The first two editions took place during a period when network scalability was becoming an increasingly important topic across the blockchain industry. At one point, the game Crabada accounted for more than half of Avalanche C-Chain transactions, highlighting the need for application-specific infrastructure.

This period helped popularize Avalanche’s vision of application-specific blockchains, allowing projects to operate on dedicated infrastructure while remaining connected to the broader ecosystem.

Key milestones from these editions included the launch of the Core wallet, the Avalanche Bitcoin Bridge, and HyperSDK, a framework designed to dramatically reduce the time required to build custom Avalanche-based blockchains. The era also saw the launch of Multiverse, a $290 million incentive program aimed at accelerating adoption of Avalanche Subnets.

Buenos Aires 2024

The first Latin American edition drew nearly 1,500 attendees in person and tens of thousands of viewers online. Argentina was a fitting location, having become one of the world’s most active markets for stablecoin usage as residents increasingly turned to digital assets as a hedge against inflation.

The headline announcement was Avalanche9000, a major network upgrade designed to dramatically reduce the cost and complexity of launching Avalanche Layer 1 blockchains. Alongside it came Retro9000, a $40 million grant program created to reward developers already building within the ecosystem.

London 2025

Held at Hatfield House, the London edition brought together developers, founders, investors, and policymakers to discuss topics ranging from institutional adoption to blockchain regulation. The event also featured startup competitions, builder programs, and ecosystem showcases highlighting projects being developed across Avalanche.

The Technology Driving It All

Each Summit has coincided with major technical developments within the Avalanche ecosystem. Three stand out in particular:

Avalanche9000 and ACP-77

Before Avalanche9000, launching a custom blockchain required validators to also participate in Avalanche’s Primary Network and stake 2,000 AVAX. ACP-77 removed that requirement, significantly reducing both the cost and operational complexity of launching new Avalanche Layer 1 blockchains.

HyperSDK

HyperSDK is a development framework that handles much of the underlying blockchain infrastructure, allowing teams to focus on building their applications. Tasks that previously required months of engineering work can now be completed far more quickly.

Interchain Messaging

Interchain Messaging (ICM) enables Avalanche Layer 1 blockchains to communicate directly with one another and transfer assets without relying on external bridges. This helps keep users, assets, and liquidity connected across the ecosystem.

What to Expect in NYC

New York is a natural fit for this edition. As one of the world’s leading financial and investment hubs, it sits at the intersection of traditional finance, venture capital, and emerging technologies.

Avalanche has attracted organizations including BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, Apollo, FIFA, and the State of Wyoming through tokenization initiatives, blockchain infrastructure deployments, and digital asset programs.

The two main tracks reflect the direction the industry is moving:

Onchain Finance

This track focuses on tokenized real-world assets, institutional liquidity, digital securities, and blockchain infrastructure designed for regulated environments.

Consumer Applications

This track explores digital ownership, fan engagement, entertainment, creator economies, and large-scale Web3 gaming experiences.

Confirmed speakers include Ava Labs CEO Emin Gün Sirer, Bitwise CIO Matthew Hougan, Franklin Templeton’s Sandy Kaul, and Dragonfly Managing Partner Haseeb Qureshi.

Tickets

Registration is currently open through the official Avalanche Summit website. Developers, researchers, founders, investors, and institutions are all expected to attend.

Looking to join the global community live? Registration is now open for Avalanche Summit NYC. Secure your pass today for 2 days of exclusive keynotes and networking.

Get Tickets Now

The 2026 FIFA World Cup is around the corner, and for the first time, access to your favorite matches could be sitting in your digital wallet.

FIFA Collect, running on its own Avalanche Layer 1 blockchain, has turned digital collectibles into something with real utility. We’re talking actual match access, not just collectible images to show your friends.

How FIFA Collect Works in Practice

FIFA Collect is the first major application running on FIFA’s dedicated blockchain, built on Avalanche. It’s a platform where you can buy, trade, and own verified digital moments from football history. But what makes it different from other collectible platforms is the connection to real-world access.

Here are some things fans can do:

• Earn the right to buy tickets for FIFA World Cup 26 matches, including premium access up to the semifinals

• Join digital challenges that unlock limited-edition drops and rewards like attending the World Cup final

• Collect officially licensed moments like the Panini Trophy Lift series, with footage tied to actual World Cup wins

• Access packs and bundles that can include direct ticket rights or purchase priority

In my case, when I tried FIFA Collect, I had a $10 coupon to open my first pack. And honestly, the process is very simple. Create your account, buy packs with USDC, and try your luck. Nothing complicated.

The platform lets collectibles function as real assets. You can buy them when you think they have value, hold them until a major event, or trade them with other fans. And in certain cases, those collectibles give you direct or priority access to physical events like World Cup matches.

Why Companies Like FIFA Choose Avalanche

FIFA didn’t pick Avalanche randomly. They needed a blockchain that could handle global traffic during major tournaments without slowing down or charging absurd fees.

Avalanche’s Layer 1 architecture lets FIFA run its own dedicated chain with custom rules and optimizations. That means:

• Fast transactions with low fees, even when millions of fans are active during a World Cup

• Compatibility with wallets like Core, Metamask, and other EVM-compatible options

• The flexibility to integrate ticketing, collectibles, and future fan experiences

• No competition for block space with other apps or networks

World Cup Watch Parties

As the 2026 World Cup approaches, Team1 will be organizing watch parties around the world for the community to come together and enjoy the matches. These events are an opportunity to connect with other Avalanche fans, celebrate goals, and share the excitement of global football.

Stay tuned to the Team1 Global Events Calendar for events near you and follow Team1 on its official channels for announcements and watch party details.

Why This Matters and What Comes Next

FIFA Collect is just the beginning. FIFA has plans to expand beyond static collectibles into more interactive fan experiences. Think syncing your digital collection with live matches, joining flash challenges during tournaments, or accessing exclusive content based on what you hold. With a dedicated Layer 1 on Avalanche, FIFA now has the infrastructure to make those experiences possible without compromising performance or user experience.

For fans, this means engagement with football can extend beyond watching matches and arguing on X. You can own moments, access events, and participate in challenges that actually reward you. For the Avalanche ecosystem, it’s proof that the technology can handle one of the world’s largest sports organizations during one of the planet’s most-watched events.

If you want to dive deeper into FIFA Collect and FIFA’s blockchain on Avalanche, the following article covers it in detail.

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May proved Avalanche is where institutions move real capital at scale.

It also served as another strong reminder that blockchain is steadily moving beyond infrastructure narratives and into real-world business adoption.

CME launched AVAX futures with 24/7 trading. South Korea’s NHN KCP piloted stablecoin payments through PAYCO across more than 1,000 merchants and employees. Progmat announced plans to migrate over $2 billion in Japanese securities to its dedicated Avalanche L1 by June.

The momentum didn’t stop there. MapleStory Universe surpassed 150 million transactions, tokenized RWA value climbed to $1.34 billion, and AVAX became the 10th-largest stablecoin network. Team1 also officially launched LatAm as a unified chapter spanning 10 countries.

Here’s the full breakdown of everything that went down in May.

CME Launches AVAX Futures with 24/7 Trading:

CME Group made AVAX and SUI futures available for trading on May 2nd, with expanded 24/7 crypto futures and options starting May 29th, opening institutional derivatives access. [Launch announcement]

AVAX Becomes 10th Largest Stablecoin Network:

AVAX stablecoin supply jumped 16.35% in one week to $1.66B, becoming the 10th largest stablecoin network with BlackRock’s BUIDL among the largest assets. [Network ranking]

RWA Market Cap Reaches New All-Time High:

Tokenized RWA value reached $1.34B ATH, with distributed RWAs hitting new records as assets use Avalanche as distribution layer. [RWA milestone]

May saw Team1 reach unprecedented scale with LatAm officially launching and regional chapters coordinating at institutional and grassroots levels worldwide.

Team1 LatAm Officially Launches as Unified Chapter:

Team1 LatAm became official after building momentum across 10 countries with 100+ prior events, 11,000+ Luma subscribers, 2,000+ developers and builders engaged, and 20 university collaborations. Team1 LatAm partnered with NVIDIA to connect builders with startup programs, cloud credits, and venture capital opportunities. [LatAm launch]

Team1 Regional Chapters Expand Globally:

In the UK Team1 hosted its inaugural London Connect meetup and was involved with the House of Lords Roundtable (May 21st) discussing stablecoins and blockchain policy with Mike Manning delivering keynote remarks.

Team1 Turkey wrapped UniTour 2 across universities. Team1 Vietnam reached 7,000+ students at HUTECH Job Fair. Team1 Japan hosted Gourmet Night Tokyo bringing the community together with Wrathtank discussing The Grotto. Team1 hosted Women Connect in Manila and Blockfest Side Event Cape Town for regional networking.

These events, alongside many others across the globe, continued to strengthen local communities and expand Avalanche’s presence through meaningful engagement.

Team1 Opens Global Applications for 3 Weeks:

Team1 opened applications for new members, offering builders, creators, developers, and community leaders a path to contribute directly, get support for ideas, and build careers in blockchain. [Join Team1]

Retro9000 C-Chain Rounds Expand with New Mechanics:

Retro9000 C-Chain Round 3 launched offering retroactive rewards for driving onchain activity. Round 2 rewards were announced, while Round 4 introduced major changes to scoring and reward distribution.

Avalanche Foundation Academic Research Grants:

The Avalanche Foundation opened grants up to $50,000 for original academic research on network economics, tokenomics, validator economics, and network security. [Research details]

NBA Playoffs: Fan Rewards on Uptop:

Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons rewarded fans through Uptop powered by Avalanche during NBA playoff Game 4, demonstrating mainstream sports integration. [Fan rewards]

Cave Money DEX Launches $CAVE Token:

Cave Money DEX officially launched the $CAVE token across Avalanche and The Grotto L1 with staking, liquidity, and trading live.

The Grotto Introduces Agentic Skills for Game Developers:

The Grotto announced agentic skills enabling gamedev agents to build cloud-ready HTML5 and WebGL games with saves, leaderboards, trusted identity, events, and multiplayer hooks. [Agentic skills launch]

MapleStory Universe Surpasses 150M Transactions:

MapleStory Universe reached 150M+ onchain transactions with 3.82M+ registered accounts, celebrating an incredible first year building on Avalanche. [Milestone celebration]

Kite AI Mainnet & Passport Enable Agent Finance:

Kite AI mainnet and Kite Passport went live in May, with interviews explaining why blockchain complements agentic AI perfectly, enabling autonomous agents to transact and interact independently. [Kite launch]

AltLLM Launches for Avalanche Data Queries:

AltLLM arrived on Avalanche enabling natural language queries of network data, from top dApps by TVL to optimal USDC to AVAX routes. [AltLLM launch]

YOM Cloud Gaming Network Builds on Avalanche:

YOM, a decentralized cloud gaming network, announced it chose Avalanche with a sovereign L1 on the roadmap and Foundation grant backing the vision. [YOM announcement]

Japan’s Government Bond Repo Market: The Next Frontier

Japan’s ~$1.6T government bond repo market represents the next frontier for onchain finance, with Progmat studying tokenized JGBs, stablecoin settlement, and onchain repo infrastructure for commercial use. [Repo study]

Bridgetower Brings $11B+ RWA Platform:

Bridgetower’s institutional tokenization infrastructure platform launched on Avalanche bringing compliance controls, reserve verification, daily NAV data, and cross-chain connectivity to institutional capital markets with $11B+ in assets. [Platform launch]

NHN KCP PAYCO Pilots 2-Second Stablecoin Payments:

South Korea’s NHN KCP completed a commercial-feasibility pilot for stablecoin payments through PAYCO app with 2-second settlement, covering online gift certificates and offline merchant payments with ~700 employees participating at Seoul headquarters. The full rollout runs 1,000+ merchants and employees. [Payment pilot]

Kraken Launches AVAX Staking with 10% APY:

Kraken activated AVAX staking with yields up to 10% APY offering bonded, flexible, and auto-compounding reward options for Avalanche holders without managing validator infrastructure. [Staking launch]

PantherTrade Lists AVAX Among Only 4 Assets:

PantherTrade, the SFC-licensed Hong Kong crypto platform built by Futu (HK’s largest online brokerage), listed AVAX as one of only 4 supported assets on the exchange. [PantherTrade listing]

Rezy.Fi Advances Tokenized Mortgage Issuance:

Rezy.Fi by ECG Holdings launched on Avalanche with Nomyx powering issuance infrastructure, enabling qualified investors to complete onboarding, KYC/AML verification, and institutional wallet provisioning as the platform advances toward tokenized mortgage offerings. [Mortgage platform]

WasabiCard Integrates Avalanche:

WasabiCard integrated Avalanche enabling users to fund accounts via AVAX network with greater efficiency and lower transaction costs. [Card integration]

Broadridge Builds Permissioned Proxy Voting L1:

Broadridge built permissioned proxy voting and governance infrastructure on a dedicated Avalanche L1, enabling tokenized equities with verified execution and compliance-controlled infrastructure. [Proxy voting L1]

Tassat Group Moves from Private to Public Rails:

Tassat Group announced its shift from private to public blockchain rails powered by Avalanche. [Tassat shift]

Hyperliquid Spot AVAX Trading Goes Live:

Spot Avalanche deposits, withdrawals, and trading became officially live on Hyperliquid. [Trading live]

Tomato Chain Joins Avalanche L1 Ecosystem:

Tomato Chain officially launched on Avalanche, bringing a full media, payments, and commerce ecosystem onchain through its new L1 in Korea. [Tomato Chain launch]

Ammo Markets Targets $30B Ammunition Tokenization:

Ammo Markets announced plans to bring the $30B global ammunition market onchain through Avalanche, targeting real-world commodity tokenization.

Tippikl Delivers Major UX Update:

Tippikl Labs rolled out a major UX update shaped by community feedback on Avalanche.

Pangolin Records 69K+ Daily Transactions:

Pangolin recorded 69,000+ transactions in 24 hours alongside active liquidity incentive programs across trading pools.

Primit Beta Coming to Avalanche:

Primit announced its beta will launch on Avalanche, bringing a new trading system built for professional traders. [Primit launch]

Aave Labs Publishes V4 Deployment Temp Check:

Aave Labs published a Temp Check to deploy Aave V4 on Avalanche including a dedicated RWA Liquidity Hub, with Aave V3 already among the top protocols on the network. [V4 deployment]

Progmat Begins $2B Japanese Securities Migration:

Progmat will complete its migration of $2B+ in Japanese real estate and corporate bonds from Corda to its dedicated Avalanche L1 by the end of June, with Progmat accounting for ~63% of Japan’s cumulative security token issuance, live regulated assets moving onchain. [Migration details]

Avalanche Summit NYC September 16-17:

Avalanche Summit will take place September 16-17 at Chelsea Industrial in New York City with speakers including Hadick M (General Partner at Dragonfly Capital) and other industry leaders.

Limited early bird tickets available: [Summit tickets]

John Nahas & Matt Hougan on Blockchain Infrastructure:

Avalanche Foundation CBO John Nahas discussed with Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan how businesses need blockchains tailored to their specific requirements. [Full Stream]

Emin Gün Sirer on the Long-Term Blockchain Shift:

Avalanche Founder and CEO Emin Gün Sirer shared his thoughts on the transformation underway as blockchain technology increasingly reshapes how businesses operate and deliver value.

[Watch Interview]

Morgan Krupetsky on Blockchain’s Real-World Role:

Morgan Krupetsky explained why blockchain must solve real business problems to achieve meaningful adoption. [Read Full Interview]

May reinforced a trend that has been building across the Avalanche ecosystem: blockchain is no longer being tested for real-world use cases, it is increasingly becoming the infrastructure powering them.

From CME’s AVAX futures launch and NHN KCP’s stablecoin payment pilot to Progmat’s planned migration of over $2 billion in Japanese securities, institutions continued to choose Avalanche for real-world deployment.

At the same time, Team1’s expansion across LatAm and the opening of global applications highlighted a growing community ready to drive the next phase of adoption.

Institutions are building. Communities are growing. The builder pipeline is expanding.

Dive into the Avalanche ecosystem today! Download the Core Wallet and unlock a world of seamless DeFi, NFTs, and more.

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Team1 has spent the past few years doing the ground-level work of making Avalanche more accessible. 450+ members across 40 countries, 6 official chapters, 600+ community events, 75,000+ Luma subscribers growing 15% month over month, and collaborations with 130 universities. Six country chapters are live, with at least 6 more set to launch before the end of 2026.

Now, Team1 is looking for the next group to grow the Avalanche ecosystem.

Applications opened May 27th and close June 16th.

Apply Here

Why This Moment

Avalanche’s ecosystem is moving fast, and the gaps where community support makes a real difference are getting harder to ignore. New L1s are launching, developer tooling is maturing, and the user base is expanding into regions that are just starting to find their footing. Team1 is growing its core global team and rolling out 12+ new regional chapters this year.

The people who join now will shape what that expansion looks like.

What Team1 Actually Does

Team1 is a global community built around growing the Avalanche ecosystem through education, events, content, and direct support for builders and newcomers. Members work in their local regions and across time zones to help people understand Avalanche, establish a presence, and join the ecosystem.

What that looks like varies. Some members run hackathons or university workshops. Others write guides, produce content, or help onboard developers and founders. Some show up through Discord, X, regional calls, or by connecting builders with the right people at the right time. Team1 supports all of it: event funding pathways, content bounty opportunities, creative support, and direct connections across the ecosystem.

It’s real work that impacts the ecosystem.

The Kind of Person Team1 Is Looking For

Team1 is built for people who show up consistently in ways that fit their schedule and their strengths. You don’t need to be a full-time Web3 professional or someone who can host events every week. Whether you are a founder, event host, developer, graphic designer, videographer, or business development professional, we are looking for people who bring their unique skills to the table.

Integrity matters most. Members represent the community, and that carries weight. Beyond that, Team1 looks for people who take initiative without being asked, who are willing to try something new even when it doesn’t land perfectly, and who want to help others navigate the ecosystem rather than just building their own profile.

Collaboration is built into how Team1 operates. Members work across regions and countries, share ideas, and support each other’s local efforts. If you find satisfaction in helping something or someone grow, you’ll fit in here.

What You Get Out of It

Team1 gives you the infrastructure to turn ideas into outcomes. That means funding pathways for events, content bounty opportunities, and creative support for graphics and branding. It means onboarding resources, internal knowledge bases, and regional leads who know the ecosystem and can point you in the right direction. Real paid job opportunities are also created within Team1 for different regions or verticals. Behind all of it: 450+ members across 40+ countries who are building in the same space you are. That network is the part that’s hardest to replicate anywhere else. Because in Web3, who you know shapes what becomes possible.

Applications opened May 27th and close June 16th, with acceptance announcements in late June. If you’ve been thinking about getting more involved in the Avalanche ecosystem, this is a direct path in. Apply before the window closes.

Apply Here

AI is moving faster than most people realize. The agents running quietly inside apps, making decisions, processing tasks, and acting on your behalf, are becoming a real part of daily digital life. The problem is that nobody built the right foundation for them. They operate on systems never designed with autonomous agents in mind, which means there is no real accountability for what they do, who created them, or whether their outputs can be trusted. Youmio was built to fix exactly that, and it chose Avalanche to do it.

What Is Youmio?

Youmio is a Layer 1 blockchain designed so that AI agents have identity, memory, economic presence, and verifiable histories that anyone can audit. Every agent on the network carries traceable history and privacy settings controlled entirely by the user. That combination is what has been missing from every AI deployment sitting on general-purpose chains.

Michael O’Connor, co-founder and CEO, put the core problem plainly: “Agents are the interface layer of AI, but without public infrastructure they’ll be owned, tracked and unverifiable. As we outsource decisions to them, we need agents we can trust. Youmio provides open infrastructure where agents act transparently, with identity, memory and provenance onchain, and privacy controls in the hands of users.”

The Story Behind the Platform

The Youmio team originally entered the web3 space through a social simulation game, Today The Game. In early 2025, they shifted their focus to building foundational tools for AI agents and rebranded as Youmio.

$LIMBO, the ecosystem’s staking token named after Youmio’s first AI character, launched on Solana in March 2025, predating the chain itself. It was how the project built its early community while the Youmio chain was still in development. The testnet followed in August 2025, concluded in late 2025, and badge migrations to mainnet were completed in early 2026.

Behind all of it is a team led by Michael O’Connor, a game development veteran from Nintendo and Sega, and Benjamin O’Cleary, an Oscar-winning filmmaker, with additional roots at Epic Games and Unity. The project has raised $5 million from investors including Sfermion and GSR, and counts Nvidia among its partners.

How Youmio Works

Unlike general-purpose blockchains, Youmio’s L1 is structured around agent behavior. Each agent has a wallet, modular skills, and an evolving metadata state. Every action leaves a cryptographic trail, and outputs can be optionally minted as verifiable proofs onchain, giving developers and users a clear, auditable record of what happened and who was responsible.

Luigi DeMeo of Ava Labs noted what makes this design distinct: “Youmio is thinking clearly about what agents actually need at the protocol level, enabling massive tokenization of AI agents on Avalanche. Instead of fitting agents into an old model, they’re creating the purpose-built foundation from the start.”

The testnet phase recorded more than 7 million transactions and over 150,000 participants, a signal of how much appetite already exists for what Youmio is building before mainnet has even launched.

Standout Features

1. Mios:

The first application on the chain is Youmio’s launchpad for creating intelligent 3D AI characters known as Mios. Each Mio evolves over time, develops personality through interaction, and moves fluidly across games, apps, and digital environments. They carry memory, grow through use, and hold a verifiable onchain identity that travels with them across platforms, interoperable across Unity and Unreal Engine.

2. $LIMBO and the Limboverse

The first Mio introduced to the world is Limbo, currently active on social media and hosting live Twitch streams where her 3D avatar responds in real-time to viewer comments. She will eventually inhabit the Limboverse, a narrative-driven simulation where players shape the story through $LIMBO token-based participation.

3. Youmio Worlds

Youmio Worlds lets users construct virtual islands or join shared simulations populated by AI residents that evolve through player interactions. Every world is fully onchain, meaning everything built within it, creations, relationships, and experiences, belongs to its creator as a real digital asset.

4. Verifiable Agent Identity

Every agent on Youmio carries an onchain identity that can be audited, monetized, and trusted. This makes it possible to build decentralized AI marketplaces, run autonomous in-game economies, and verify an agent’s full action history at any point.

5. The Agent Token Model

A single token can now represent an ecosystem of linked agents with rewards tied to usage, behavior or creator-defined rules. One token governs an entire network of connected agents, with economic incentives flowing based on how those agents actually perform. Developers no longer need a separate token for every agent they build.

Why Avalanche?

Youmio benefits from Avalanche’s low latency and sub-second finality, which matters because AI agents act and respond continuously. The chain underneath them has to match that pace. Avalanche’s low latency and sub-second finality make that possible at scale.

Youmio was one of the first projects under Avalanche’s $15 million InfraBUIDL(AI) program, which supports teams building AI-native systems on the network. Beyond being a participant in the ecosystem, Youmio actively helps build it, identifying and funding the next wave of developers who want to create agent-native applications.

With over 6 million funded wallets and 3 million monthly active users, Avalanche provides the distribution to put these agents in front of real users from launch.

Youmio 2026 Updates: Mainnet Progress

The Youmio testnet ended in late 2025, with badge migrations to mainnet completed in early 2026. The Green Hoodie Digital Wearable SBT launched exclusively for testnet pioneers, granting access to Season 1, an invite-only phase for earning rewards through Mio interactions.

Season 1 concluded on April 20, 2026. As of May 2026, the platform remains invite-only, with new users able to request access through existing participants. The team has dropped hints of upcoming features and expansions.

How to Get Involved:

1) $LIMBO staking: $LIMBO is Youmio’s staking token, available on Avalanche. Staking durations run between 7 and 120 days, with longer locks generating higher daily Star yield.

2) Stars: Stars are earned through $LIMBO staking and measure your Affinity with your Mio, which determines how rewards flow to you as the platform matures.

3) Seed NFTs and SEED Points: Seed NFTs, available in Ancient, Mythic, and Synergy tiers, can be planted in the Youmio Garden to generate SEED Points and additional NFTs. SEED Points build your participation score and determine your share of future reward allocations.

4) Referrals: Each successful referral adds 5 to 10 percent to your participation score, compounding your rewards over time.

Get started or check your access status.

The Bigger Picture

AI agents are becoming genuine participants in digital life, and the systems governing them need to be accountable, transparent, and built for the long run. Most blockchains were never designed with that in mind. Youmio is one of the first to take it seriously, building a chain where agents have identity, memory, and verifiable histories from the ground up.

The team behind it brings an unusual combination of creative and technical depth, with roots in game development, filmmaking, and AI engineering.

Over 7 million testnet transactions and 150,000 participants before mainnet launch. The interest is already there, and the foundation is being built to meet it.

Dive into the Avalanche ecosystem today! Download the Core Wallet and unlock a world of seamless DeFi, NFTs, and more.

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Gaming titles built on Avalanche generated over 100 million transactions in 2025 alone. MapleStory Universe drove the network to process 1 million daily transactions in its first week. Off The Grid became the first AAA blockchain game to ship on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. The activity is real, and it is accelerating. What sits behind all of it is an architecture that most developers misunderstand before they start building.

What “Blockchain Gaming” Actually Means

The most common misconception is that a blockchain game runs on the blockchain. The game engine, physics, rendering, matchmaking, AI, and real-time session state all run on traditional infrastructure, the same way they always have. The blockchain serves as a settlement and ownership layer sitting underneath the game. It is a separate system that sits beneath your game server and handles what game servers were never designed to handle: permanent, verifiable ownership.

The clearest mental model: blockchain is your game’s permanent ledger of ownership and economy. The game engine is the experience. They are connected through event-driven architecture, and the engineering challenge is building that bridge well.

The game layer covers everything you already know: Unity or Unreal, your physics engine, rendering pipeline, matchmaking servers, AI systems, and player session state. None of that changes when you go Web3. The blockchain layer is where Avalanche lives: asset ownership recorded as NFTs, token balances, marketplace logic, smart contract-enforced crafting rules, verifiable randomness for loot drops, and tournament prize pools.

Why Avalanche for Games

Most transactions on Avalanche confirm in 1 to 2 seconds. Ethereum takes 12 to 15 seconds. That difference matters for games because players notice. A player who earns an item and sees it appear immediately has a fundamentally different experience from one staring at a loading state wondering if something broke.

The C-Chain is fully EVM-compatible. Solidity contracts deploy with zero changes. Hardhat, Foundry, MetaMask, OpenZeppelin, and WalletConnect all work without modification. The C-Chain processes over 4,500 transactions per second and the Octane upgrade in mid-2025 cut fees by over 95%, which changed what is economically viable for studios running game economies with millions of microtransactions.

The deeper differentiator is the L1 architecture. The ability to launch a sovereign blockchain with custom validators, a custom gas token, isolated workloads, and configurable EVM parameters is what has attracted the studios shipping serious games. Read more on the Avalanche9000 upgrade at https://www.avax.network/about/blog/building-on-avalanche9000.

C-Chain or Your Own L1: How to Choose

The economics of launching an L1 changed significantly with Avalanche9000 and ACP-77, which shipped to mainnet in December 2024. Previously, each L1 validator was required to stake 2,000 AVAX on the primary network. A 5-validator minimum meant an upfront capital commitment approaching $240,000 at 2024 prices. ACP-77 removed that requirement entirely, replacing it with a pay-as-you-go fee of roughly 1 to 10 AVAX per validator per month. The 99% reduction in deployment cost is real, and it makes dedicated game chains accessible to studios that could not justify the old model. Full technical breakdown at https://github.com/avalanche-foundation/ACPs/discussions/78.

The practical path: build on the C-Chain, get real players generating real transactions, and move to your own L1 when volume and economics justify it. Avalanche’s Interchain Messaging (ICM) infrastructure handles asset bridging between chains so the transition is invisible to players.

Studios that made the move to dedicated L1s:

• GUNZ (Off The Grid) by Gunzilla Games. A AAA battle royale on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. The game client runs traditionally. GUNZ L1 handles weapons as NFTs, the GUN token economy, marketplace, and staking.

• MapleStory Universe L1 by Nexon. Player-owned guilds, tradeable progression items, transparent enhancement logs built onchain. Drove 1 million daily transactions in week one.

• FCHAIN by Faraway Games. Powers nine titles simultaneously. Assets and economy move across games in the same ecosystem.

What Goes Onchain and What Stays Off

Blockchain is built for settlement and permanent state changes. Real-time execution belongs on your traditional game servers.

The bridge between your game server and your contracts is event-driven. A game server event triggers a backend listener that calls the relevant contract function. With sub-second finality on Avalanche, that transaction resolves in 1 to 2 seconds rather than 12 to 15. Players see their items appear almost immediately.

Smart Contract Patterns That Matter Most

1. Vault and escrow: For any session where assets are at risk, dungeon runs, PvP wagers, high-stakes crafting. The player approves the vault contract, the game server triggers a deposit at session start, and the contract releases assets based on the verified outcome from a signed server message.

2. Merkle tree reward distribution: For large-scale reward events. The studio publishes one Merkle root to the contract instead of minting individually to thousands of players. Each player claims their reward by submitting a Merkle proof. One transaction sets the root; players cover their own claim gas.

3. ERC-2771 meta-transactions: The most important pattern for Web2 onboarding. Players sign transactions without paying gas. A studio-run relayer submits and covers the cost. On a dedicated L1 with a custom gas token, this becomes even simpler at the protocol level: players spend your game token and the relayer complexity goes away entirely.

The Tooling Stack

For smart contract development, Hardhat and Foundry both work without modification on the C-Chain. OpenZeppelin provides audited implementations of every standard you will need. The Hardhat config for Avalanche is identical to an Ethereum config with the RPC URL changed to https://api.avax.network/ext/bc/C/rpc and chainId set to 43114. Fuji testnet (chainId 43113) is the staging environment, with free test AVAX at faucet.avax.network.

For Avalanche-specific infrastructure, the Avalanche CLI handles local network setup, L1 deployment, and genesis configuration. AvaCloud provides a no-code alternative for studios that want a production L1 without a dedicated infrastructure engineer. The Core Wallet SDK covers Avalanche-native capabilities including P-Chain interactions and cross-chain asset visibility. Glacier API gives fast onchain data access without running a custom indexer, and The Graph handles custom subgraphs for leaderboards, trade history, and activity feeds.

For game engine integration, the Moralis Unity SDK connects Unity projects to Avalanche onchain data. ChainSafe’s web3.unity is a strong alternative for tighter engine integration. ethers.js handles EVM interaction in Node.js backends and web frontends.

For wallet UX, Privy and Dynamic both provide embedded wallet SDKs that generate wallets from email or social login. Players never see a seed phrase unless they choose to. This is the single biggest lever for Web2 player retention in any blockchain game.

Migrating from Web2 to Web3 on Avalanche

Migration happens in three phases and studios that try to do all three at once typically ship nothing.

Phase 1: Asset tokenization (4 to 8 weeks). Identify which items become onchain assets. Begin with cosmetics rather than gameplay-critical items so that a failed blockchain integration does not break core gameplay. Deploy an ERC-1155 contract, map internal item IDs to token IDs, add wallet connection alongside the existing login system, and build the minting pipeline from game server to contract.

Phase 2: Economy layer. Deploy an ERC-20 game token that replaces or supplements the existing currency system. Design the token economy, supply, emission rate, and sinks, before writing a single contract. A badly designed token economy will collapse regardless of contract quality. The main deliverables at this phase are the marketplace contract for player-to-player trading and a meta-transaction relayer so players do not need AVAX to transact.

Phase 3: Deep integration. Crafting and upgrade logic move to smart contracts with onchain outcome records. Competitive modes implement commit-reveal for verifiable match outcomes. Player-owned guilds exist as contracts with onchain treasuries. At this point the studio should also evaluate whether transaction volume justifies moving to a dedicated L1.

The four UX principles that determine whether Web2 players stay:

1. Abstract the wallet completely: Use embedded wallet tools like Privy or Dynamic so players log in with email or social accounts and never interact with key management directly. Call it an “inventory vault” or “digital ownership account” in your UI. Keep the word wallet out of it.

2. Sponsor gas for new players: Requiring AVAX ownership from a player who has never touched crypto is an immediate exit. Set up a meta-transaction relayer and cover their early transactions.

3. Use progressive disclosure: Show players they own their items. Let them discover trading when they are ready. The player who figures out they can sell a rare drop and receive real money will evangelize your game. The player hit with “connect your MetaMask to continue” on the loading screen closes the tab.

4. Fail gracefully: Queue failed transactions for retry and show neutral “syncing your inventory” states rather than raw blockchain errors. Most retries succeed and the player never knew anything happened.

Token Economics: Building an Economy That Survives

The 2021 to 2022 play-to-earn era established a useful negative example. When new player capital is the primary source of token value for existing players, token collapse follows slowing user growth, and the game collapses with it.

The dual token model:

The dual structure lets the in-game economy run independently of governance token price movements on secondary markets.

Token sinks to design in from day one:

• Crafting costs, burned on creation or upgrade

• Enhancement fees, burned regardless of success or failure

• Marketplace fees, a percentage burned or sent to treasury

• Season pass and premium content spending

• Guild creation and maintenance costs

• Tournament entry fees that partially burn

Gunzilla Games routes 30% of monthly Off The Grid revenue into GUN token buybacks from the open market, which are then burned. That creates a direct link between game revenue and token value.

The sequencing principle that separates sustainable games from failures: design the game to be worth playing for free first. Layer on ownership mechanics that reward long-term players second. That order matters.

Why games keep choosing Avalanche

The technical case comes down to a specific combination of properties that Avalanche has built deliberately for this use case. Sub-second finality means asset transactions confirm before players notice a delay. EVM compatibility means studios bring their existing Solidity knowledge, auditors, and tooling without relearning anything. The post-Octane fee reduction of over 95% on the C-Chain makes microtransaction-heavy game economies economically viable at scale.

The dedicated L1 architecture is the deepest advantage. A gaming studio can run a sovereign blockchain with its own validators, its own gas token, its own EVM configuration, and complete workload isolation. Peak game activity, including major NFT drops and large competitive events, cannot affect other applications and other applications cannot affect the game. Post-Avalanche9000, launching that L1 costs roughly 1 to 10 AVAX per validator per month rather than tens of thousands of AVAX upfront.

Interchain Messaging connects L1s to each other and to the C-Chain without external bridges, so multi-game ecosystems like FCHAIN can share assets and economy across titles on the same infrastructure.

What This Means for Builders

The infrastructure for serious game development on Avalanche is in place. Studios that start today have access to sub-second finality, a tooling stack that works without modification for any EVM developer, dedicated chain economics that are genuinely accessible, and a set of ecosystem programs designed to fund and support the build.

The developer opportunity is around studios that treat blockchain as infrastructure rather than product feature. The games winning in 2025 are marketed as games first. The blockchain is invisible to most of their players. Building that kind of invisible-infrastructure experience on Avalanche is where the real work is, and the tools to do it are here.

Read The Full Article

For the complete technical deep dive including Solidity code examples for ERC-1155 item registries, marketplace contracts with royalty enforcement, vault and escrow patterns, Merkle reward distribution, ERC-2771 meta-transaction relayers, and the full Hardhat configuration for Avalanche, read the full two-part article on my Substack:

Part 1: The Architecture, the Reality, and What Actually Runs Onchain, available at Scotch’s Substack
Part 2: Tooling, Migration, Tokenomics, and Where to Start, available at Scotch’s Substack

Start Building

Developers ready to build can start with AvaCloud at https://avacloud.io and the full Avalanche developer documentation at https://build.avax.network.

The Fuji testnet faucet provides free test AVAX at https://faucet.avax.network. The Avalanche Builder Hub at https://build.avax.network covers everything from contract deployment to L1 configuration. The Avalanche Discord at https://discord.gg/avalanche has dedicated builder channels for getting unblocked quickly.

Dive into the Avalanche ecosystem today! Download the Core Wallet and unlock a world of seamless DeFi, NFTs, and more.

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Q1 2026 Ecosystem Recap

What started as a collection of curious individuals rapidly evolved into a connected network of builders, developers, and founders across East Africa.

The question was never whether East Africa had the talent. The question was whether it had the infrastructure, the community, and the momentum to turn that talent into something lasting.

Showing Up Every Week

Consistency is underrated in community building. Anyone can host a one-off event and generate a spike of excitement. What is harder, and more valuable, is building a rhythm that people actually show up to week after week.

That is what the Team1 East Africa Community Call has become. Every Tuesday at 8:00 PM EAT, builders, developers, founders, designers, and Web2 professionals exploring their first steps into Web3 gather on Google Meet for a session that cuts through the noise and focuses on how to move from curiosity to capability.

These calls are spaces where real conversations happen, where someone who shipped a project last week shares what they learned, and where a first-time builder realizes they are not as far from launching as they thought.

Over this quarter, the sessions became a gateway to real opportunities within the Avalanche ecosystem, covering programs like Build Games and Retro9000, pointing builders toward Avalanche Academy for foundational learning, and connecting the community to the tools, documentation, and support systems they need to scale.

Join our weekly community calls

Inside the Universities

University ecosystems are uniquely positioned as launchpads for the next generation of builders.

At the Hult Prize UoN Bootcamp, students were introduced to the Avalanche ecosystem through a deeper, more practical lens, moving beyond surface-level blockchain awareness into structured pathways for contribution.

The session unpacked what Build Games on Avalanche represents for builders ready to compete at a continental level, focusing on where asymmetric opportunities exist, including grant pathways, and how to navigate the ecosystem without confusion or blind spots.

Students were guided through the Avalanche Academy courses, giving them a clear entry point into structured learning and highlighting the various technical and non-technical pathways available, from development and product building to community growth and ecosystem participation.

Rather than treating hackathons as isolated events, the session reframed them as entry points into a broader ecosystem strategy, covering infrastructure, capital allocation, and distribution channels.

Join our University Chapter and be part of the community here.

Women Connect: A Different Kind of Activation

In late January, we began with a yoga session.

The Team1 Women Connect gathering in Lavington, Nairobi brought together women shaping the future of Web3 for a moment of intentional pause in an otherwise relentlessly fast-paced space.

By blending movement and mindfulness, the session created an environment where deeper conversations could happen naturally, away from the pressure of panels and pitch decks.

The Web3 space moves fast and burns people out. Building a sustainable ecosystem means investing in the people behind it, and sometimes that looks like creating space to breathe, connect, and remember why this work matters.

Build Games Uganda

February brought the movement north. Build Games Kampala, hosted at Makerere University, gathered nearly 60 builders, game developers, designers, and Web3 enthusiasts for a five-hour immersive session with one core objective: move from concept to product.

This was a hands-on builder experience where participants engaged directly with Avalanche’s infrastructure, including Subnets, and worked through the practical process of taking an idea toward something shippable.

Experienced builders shared real insights from their own journeys, and the energy in the room reflected what happens when curiosity meets structure.

By engaging directly with student innovators, Team1 tapped into one of East Africa’s strongest talent pipelines.

Be part of our Ugandan community here.

Team1 Rwanda

Since launching the Team1 Rwanda community with its first ecosystem event in February, the initiative has continued to experience steady growth and engagement. The inaugural event brought together over 60 participants, including developers, founders, and blockchain enthusiasts, marking the beginning of a growing local ecosystem.

Over the following months, the community expanded to more than 200 active members, supported by consistent monthly meetups that encouraged collaboration, knowledge sharing, and long-term community retention. To strengthen participation and accessibility, a structured onboarding pipeline was also developed through community channels and targeted ecosystem campaigns.

Beyond community growth, Team1 Rwanda has actively focused on ecosystem expansion through strategic partnerships and institutional engagement. Collaborations with three local tech hubs have helped increase developer visibility and outreach, while ongoing discussions with two universities are laying the groundwork for sustainable talent development and student involvement in blockchain innovation.

Build Games Kigali

Build Games Kigali, held at the Digital Transformation Center, brought Rwanda’s growing gaming and tech community into direct engagement with the Avalanche ecosystem.

The session emphasized practical execution, with builders exploring how Avalanche’s infrastructure, such as sub-second finality and custom L1s can power scalable, low-friction gaming experiences.

The Digital Center transformed into a high-energy collaboration hub, where participants formed meaningful connections and began laying the groundwork for long-term projects and partnerships.

In parallel, early-stage startups were supported through ecosystem onboarding and guidance on product development, ecosystem alignment, and global exposure opportunities.

12 startups were supported to participate in the Avalanche Builders Game (Stage 1), with 3 advancing to Stage 2, positioning them for deeper ecosystem support and potential funding.

SheBuilds Nairobi

On International Women’s Day, Nairobi hosted SheBuilds Nairobi at the Blockchain Centre, bringing together 200+ participants for a fully hands-on experience.

In just three hours, women from diverse backgrounds, students, early-stage developers, and Web3 newcomers, were guided through creating and publishing real onchain projects.

Every participant left having shipped something tangible, marking a powerful shift from curiosity to capability.

Participants explored AI-assisted development, LLM integrations, and Chainlink-powered applications on Avalanche, moving from idea to prototype in a highly collaborative environment.

Women in East Africa are not only embracing technology, but are also increasingly excited about building on Avalanche and exploring its potential.

With the right tools and environment, women are not waiting to be included in Web3, they are shaping its future.

Avalanche x Chainlink Women Builders Lab

To close the quarter, Kigali hosted the Avalanche x Chainlink Women Builders Lab, focused on connecting smart contracts to real-world data. The session brought together 80+ participants, marking a strong step toward inclusive ecosystem growth.

In partnership with Chainlink, builders explored how decentralized oracle networks power advanced use cases across DeFi, payments, and tokenized assets, moving beyond theory into practical, infrastructure-level understanding.

The initiative also launched a Female Builders program, onboarding 70+ women and creating a safe, empowering space to explore blockchain, innovation, and funding opportunities.

Beyond technical learning, the lab strengthened gender inclusion in a traditionally male-dominated space, reflecting a broader shift in East Africa from onboarding to developing skilled, confident builders ready to contribute at a global level.

There is a continued commitment to increasing female participation across all ecosystem programs, alongside plans to host larger, multi-ecosystem activities in Rwanda.

These efforts aim to further position Rwanda as a leading hub for blockchain innovation in Africa.

Be part of Avalanche Team1 Rwanda: Join here

Build Games

Across the Build Games initiative this quarter, East Africa submitted 27 projects, signaling a clear shift toward execution. The region is no longer just consuming Web3 content; it is actively producing and contributing to it.

As more developers gain access to the right tools, communities, and support systems, output and innovation will continue to grow.

Q1 2026 demonstrated what becomes possible when capability, confidence, and ecosystem alignment come together.

The Foundation Has Been Set

Q1 2026 was focused on laying a durable foundation for long-term ecosystem growth.

Across dozens of sessions, the emphasis remained consistent: equipping builders, creating real opportunities, and fostering a culture of shipping.

Every session, meetup, and project contributes to a larger shift in how East Africa shows up in the onchain world.

The region is no longer waiting to be included in the global blockchain conversation, it is actively building, contributing, and creating solutions that are influencing the future of the ecosystem.

Dive into the Avalanche ecosystem today! Download the Core Wallet and unlock a world of seamless DeFi, NFTs, and more.

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When the AI agent narrative began, all we saw were speculative AI tokens and unreliable infrastructure. The infrastructure was in its infancy and needed development. Fast-forward to today, we have the x402 payment standard, which allows agents to make payments autonomously, and ERC-8004, which provides a reliable framework for AI identity. This combination has sparked a global wave of interest in vibe coding and blockchain integration for vibecoded applications.

Building with AI is the order of the day, and builders are integrating the blockchain to tap into features like decentralisation, quick yet autonomous transactions, etc.

The Avalanche community has also caught the vibe coding fever and is creating apps, deploying AI agents and visualising novel ideas that integrate the vast functionality of the Avalanche network.

Let’s see what builders are creating using AI on Avalanche.

1. Eva Predicts by @ijaack94

News consumption and predictions are social, but trust infra is not, and there is no reliable way to track who is actually right over time, separate signal from noise, or build a verifiable track record that others can trust and follow.

Eva is an Avalanche-first prediction reputation system that maps, measures, and visualises reputation and trust into a trustgraph, which serves as a public track record of people who make market predictions.

On Eva, you can publish prediction theses on live markets, attach evidence/ source context, and build an on-chain reputation based on whether your calls land. The EvaTrustGraph uses ERC-8004 registries so that identity, validation, and compounding reputation receipts remain visible to other agent-native tools across the ecosystem.

Eva is actively in development, hence the full prediction reputation system currently in its testing phase.

How Eva Protocol Works

• Publish your thesis:

  Once live, you’ll be able to publish your prediction thesis on Eva by including the existing market, market title outcome, rationale and source context on Eva.

• Eva stores the full record:

  Every thesis, counter, source link, and piece of evidence is public, evidence-backed, and permanently readable. Anyone can inspect the reasoning behind any prediction at any time.

• Trust compounds over time:

  When outcomes resolve, they feed into your graph-backed reputation tied to your Eva identity. Accurate predictors build a compounding reputation that others can follow, copy and challenge. Your track record becomes your credibility, and it lives onchain where it cannot be edited.

2. My Crash Out by @Luacantu

My Crash Out is an anonymous wall created to enable crypto community members to fully express their unhinged thoughts about the ecosystem without risking their reputation, audience or facing the backlash that comes with public call-outs. The motive behind crashing out is to vent while suggesting real ideas to fix the ongoing problems.

My Crash Out started on Avalanche and for the Avalanche community, but has gone multichain.

How My Crash Out Works

My Crash Out has different sections serving different purposes:

• Crash Out section:

  This is where you can sign up with an anonymous name to post your crash out or read and react to other sentiments on the wall.

• Leaderboard:

  This is where you see the crash-outs with the most community reactions. It helps track community sentiment, such as what people agree with and what they don’t.

• Save the chain:

  Submit ideas to help improve the chain or get ideas you can build on or integrate into your apps. This section is grouped into top solutions, trending, newest and most discussed. Community feedback just got better.

• Body count scanner:

  Click on the scanner to measure your emotional damage on the Avalanche ecosystem.

Why this matters to the Avalanche Community

As a vibe coder, you want to build fast and ship fast; you want the soft life and zero hiccups. Most blockchains will kill your workflow with high gas fees that make every test deployment expensive, slow confirmations that kill your adrenaline and complex infrastructure that stops you even before you can start. Integrating Avalanche complements your workflow, is cost-effective and matches your need for speed.

Avalanche’s low fees make high-frequency operations easy, which is essential for AI-driven apps. The biggest momentum killer for a vibe coder deploying on-chain isn’t bad code but the cost of fixing it. With low fees on Avalanche, you can test, redeploy, and experiment freely without gas fee anxiety interrupting your flow.

Avalanche has unlocked sub-second block time, which means your apps can feel responsive: With Avalanche, your vibe coded agent can execute an action, and the result confirms in under a second. Your setup will feel real and usable rather than clunky and slow.

To wrap it up, Avalanche’s multichain architecture lets you create a customized L1 tailored to your specific AI use case. The moment your vibe coded idea outgrows the primary network, you can create a customized L1 with custom gas tokens, specific transaction rules or dedicated throughput.

Funding institutions like Retro9000 and the Avalanche Academy ensure that you don’t build alone. Vibe coding removes the technical barrier to building. Avalanche’s grants program and Academy remove the resource and knowledge barriers. You bring the product, and the Avalanche ecosystem backs you up.

If you’re curious about how Avalanche empowers AI agents, you might find the following blog useful:

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a blockchain to integrate into your vibe coded apps or deploy AI agents on, Avalanche is the place to be.

Start your journey here: https://build.avax.network/docs.

Dive into the Avalanche ecosystem today! Download the Core Wallet and unlock a world of seamless DeFi, NFTs, and more.

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As AI agents begin handling paid work onchain, applications need a way to identify them, verify capabilities, and evaluate past track records. A wallet address alone is not enough.

ERC-8004 gives that problem a standard shape. Avalanche is a good fit because agent workflows are transaction-heavy by default. Registration, validation, task pricing, and reputation updates all work better when the chain is fast, low-cost, and comfortable with frequent state changes.

ERC-8004 gives developers a common way to identify agents, check capabilities, and build reputation or validation data that other applications can read. That matters because agent infrastructure gets much more useful when identity and track record are interoperable among apps.

Why Avalanche Is a Good Fit

Agent identity will not land evenly across every chain. The chain that makes registration, validation, and reputation cheap enough to use repeatedly has a practical advantage. Avalanche has several reasons to be in that conversation.

1. Transaction Economics Favor High-Frequency Agent Workflows

Agent-to-agent interactions do not look like human transactions. They are frequent, small, and latency-sensitive. A human might sign one transaction a day. An agent could sign hundreds an hour.

That changes the fee math. Avalanche’s sub-second finality and low fee floor make micro-priced task execution easier to test and use. In the Eva proof of concept below, tasks are priced between 0.005 and 0.025 AVAX, which only works if the surrounding transaction costs stay low enough to make the task worthwhile.

Cheap repeated writes are part of the product for agent workflows.

2. L1 Architecture Supports Controlled Agent Deployments

Some enterprise agent use cases, especially in legal, financial, and healthcare settings, need more control than a fully public environment gives them by default. Avalanche’s L1 model gives teams a way to deploy agent identity registries on isolated or permissioned chains while staying within Avalanche’s broader validator and interoperability model.

That flexibility matters for institutions that need access controls, compliance boundaries, or more predictable infrastructure assumptions.

Registries could also be shared across L1s, either fully or selectively. A builder-focused L1 could offer agent services to an enterprise L1, with identity and validation moving across chains instead of being trapped in one app database.

3. A Native Identity Layer Strengthens the Validator and Staking Economy

Every registered identity, task execution, validation result, and reputation update is a transaction. At scale, a functioning agent economy produces sustained programmatic volume. That is a different profile from speculative trading activity.

That kind of usage can matter for validators. Predictable high-frequency activity can support staking incentives, reduce dependence on token-price cycles for validator economics, and make the network more attractive to long-term infrastructure operators.

4. C-Chain as a Shared Coordination Layer

The value of a standard depends heavily on where developers expect to find it. If ERC-8004 adoption builds on C-Chain, developers building multi-agent systems could use C-Chain for identity resolution, reputation lookups, and capability verification.

That creates an integration loop. Agent apps on Avalanche can integrate with other agent apps on Avalanche because the tooling, data, and lookup paths are already there. The network effect comes from workflow habits, shared data, and incentives working together.

5. No Chain Owns Agent Identity Yet

The agent economy does not have a dominant home chain yet. That leaves room for an ecosystem to become known for identity, reputation, and coordination before the category settles.

Ethereum has liquidity. Solana has a strong speed narrative. Avalanche has a credible path through low-cost execution, L1 customization, and C-Chain accessibility.

This is the window: make the standard easy to use before identity and reputation histories accumulate elsewhere. Once that data exists, agents and developers tend to stay where their records already live.

Concrete Implementation

I tested this by deploying an ERC-8004 identity for my AI agent Eva on Avalanche C-Chain:

• Agent ID: 1599

• Identity NFT: https://snowtrace.io/nft/0x8004A169FB4a3325136EB29fA0ceB6D2e539a432/1599

Around that identity, I added a few agent-specific pieces:

• ValidationRegistry

• TaskAgent contract

• Task pricing denominated in AVAX

Example pricing:

The exact prices are illustrative. The useful part is the pattern: tasks can be priced, outcomes can be recorded, and feedback can be collected onchain. At that point, the agent has a record other apps can inspect, route to, and price against.

What This Unlocks

Standardized identity, reputation, and validation unlock a few concrete primitives:

• Marketplaces filtered by validation status and onchain track record

• Portable reputation that is not trapped inside one platform

• Capability registries backed by third-party attestations

• Agent teams with shared governance and independent identities

• Pay-per-call automation where agent work is priced like an API endpoint

Together, those primitives make agent work legible. Applications can search, price, route, and evaluate agents by onchain history instead of platform-specific claims.

Honest Limitations

ERC-8004 gives the rails. A production system still needs:

• Indexing and discovery: a standard is only useful if agents can be found

• Sybil resistance: reputation needs guardrails against gaming

• Verifiable execution: offchain work still has to be proven or checked

• Dispute resolution: failed tasks need refund and arbitration paths

• Privacy: not all agent work should be public by default

The standard is the starting point. The hard work is in the supporting systems that decide whether agent identity becomes durable infrastructure or another thin metadata layer.

Bottom Line

ERC-8004 will not solve quality, alignment, or incentives by itself. What it can do is give agents a common identity layer.

It makes identities durable, reputations legible, and capabilities attestable onchain. That gives applications something they can read and reason about.

For Avalanche, the opportunity is straightforward: make agent identity cheap, practical, and easy to build with before the category chooses which one is the default or most prominent environment.

Dive into the Avalanche ecosystem today! Download the Core Wallet and unlock a world of seamless DeFi, NFTs, and more.

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Getting exposure to AVAX used to mean managing wallets, figuring out private keys, and navigating staking mechanics on your own. For most institutional investors and everyday brokerage users, that friction was enough to keep them on the sidelines.

Bitwise Asset Management launched the Bitwise Avalanche ETF (NYSE: BAVA), giving investors direct exposure to AVAX through a standard brokerage account. No wallet setup. No staking complexity. Also, BAVA actively stakes the fund’s AVAX holdings, aiming to pass those staking rewards back to shareholders.

What Is BAVA

BAVA is a spot Avalanche ETF, meaning the fund holds actual AVAX tokens rather than derivatives or futures. Bitwise, which manages $11 billion in client assets, runs the product through its in-house staking division, Bitwise Onchain Solutions.

Here is how the staking structure works: roughly 70% of the fund’s AVAX is staked at any given time, targeting Avalanche’s current average staking reward rate of 5.4%. The remaining 30% stays in a liquidity reserve to handle redemptions. Net rewards flow back to shareholders on a regular schedule.

The fund trades on the NYSE under the ticker BAVA. The sponsor fee is 0.34%, waived entirely for the first month on the fund’s first $500 million in assets. Early trading showed $400,000 in volume within the first 90 minutes, which Bloomberg ETF analyst James Seyffart described as quite good for a launch.

Why Avalanche, Why Now

The timing of BAVA reflects something that has been building quietly in the Avalanche ecosystem, a growing list of real-world assets deployments that go well beyond crypto-native use cases. Currently, Avalanche is emerging as one of the leading platforms for businesses, governments, and real-world use cases by powering institutional projects like:

• FIFA‘s proprietary blockchain for digital collectibles, including ticket options for the 2026 World Cup

• Wyoming’s Frontier (FRNT) Stable Token, the first state-issued stablecoin in the U.S.

• Bergen County, New Jersey’s digitization of 370,000 property deeds representing $240 billion in real estate value, via Balcony’s platform built on Avalanche

• Toyota’s enterprise blockchain initiatives for mobility and supply chain

• Institutional tokenization projects from KKR, Apollo, SkyBridge, and BlackRock

• Japan’s first regulated stablecoin (JPYC) and Korea’s first KRW-denominated stablecoin (KRW1)

Avalanche’s L1architecture allows institutions to build sovereign, customizable blockchains that operate within their own compliance and governance rules, while still connecting to the broader network. It’s that combination of flexibility and performance, near-instant settlement with low fees, that keeps drawing serious enterprise interest by making things faster, cheaper, and more transparent for users.

The Staking Angle Is the Real Story

Most crypto ETFs are passive vehicles. You buy the fund, you hold the asset, you ride the price up or down. BAVA is structured differently.

By staking the majority of its AVAX holdings in-house, Bitwise targets a 5.4% staking yield that gets passed back to shareholders. This matters for a few reasons. First, it makes BAVA a yield-bearing crypto product at a time when most alternatives offer none. Second, in-house staking through Bitwise Onchain Solutions means the fund retains direct oversight rather than outsourcing to a third party. Third, it connects BAVA shareholders directly to Avalanche’s consensus mechanism, meaning the fund actively participates in securing the network.

For Avalanche, this has a compounding effect. More institutional capital staking AVAX strengthens network security and signals conviction from sophisticated investors who have done the due diligence to back it in a regulated product.

What to Know Before You Invest

BAVA makes AVAX more accessible, but accessible does not mean risk-free. A few things worth understanding before investing:

• AVAX is a volatile asset. The fund’s value moves with the price of AVAX, which has historically seen significant swings in both directions. A 5.4% staking yield means little if the underlying asset drops 10% or 20% in the same period.

• Staking rewards are variable. The 5.4% target is based on current network conditions. Avalanche’s staking rate adjusts over time based on the total amount of AVAX staked across the network. As more institutional capital enters through products like BAVA, that rate could compress.

• The fund structure adds a layer of fees. Bitwise retains 12% of staking rewards as an operational cut, on top of the 0.34% sponsor fee. Investors are not receiving the raw staking yield a direct validator would earn.

None of this makes BAVA a bad product. It makes it a product worth reading the prospectus for before putting capital in.

What This Means for the Ecosystem

BAVA is not the end of something. It is the infrastructure for what comes next.

When a major asset manager with $11 billion under management launches a regulated product built around Avalanche, it opens access to an entirely new category of investor. Financial advisors who previously could not include AVAX in client portfolios now have a compliant on-ramp. Institutional allocators who need a custodied, auditable product can now participate.

That capital flows back into the ecosystem. It supports validators, increases network security, and adds a layer of long-term credibility that speculative trading volume alone cannot provide.

Get Involved

BAVA is live on the NYSE today. Here is where to go next:

• Review the official BAVA prospectus at bavaetf.com/prospectus

• Learn more about building on Avalanche at avax.network

• Join the conversation in the Avalanche community Discord and follow @avax on X for the latest ecosystem updates

Dive into the Avalanche ecosystem today! Download the Core Wallet and unlock a world of seamless DeFi, NFTs, and more.

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As onchain activity scales into hundreds of millions and even billions of transactions per quarter across major networks, explorers have evolved far beyond simple lookup tools. They now act as access layers into the structure of a network, surfaces for tracing value flows, evaluating validator behavior, and understanding how entire ecosystems move in real time.

On Avalanche, that capability is not concentrated in a single platform. It is distributed across a set of specialized tools, each designed to answer a different kind of question.

So the real skill is no longer just reading onchain data.

It is knowing which tool to reach for, and when.

This guide is not a directory of every explorer or dashboard. Instead, each section maps a real user intent to the right tool, explains why it fits, and shows when to move to another layer.

Firstly, we outline the exploration stack, from raw onchain data to dashboards and intelligence tools. Then we walk through common scenarios such as tracing a transaction, validator data, and DeFi activities.

The principle is simple: the tool should follow the question, not the other way around.

The Three Layers of Exploration

Before touching any tool, adopt this mental model. Onchain data exists in three layers, and most confusion comes from using a layer-one tool on a DeFi problem.

1. Raw Data

Transactions, blocks, smartcontract calls (the immutable blockchain record).

Tools:

Block explorers like SnowTrace, Avascan, Snowscan, Avalanche’s official Explorer.

These let you search hashes and addresses to see exactly what happened onchain.

2. Structured Insights

Aggregated charts, dashboards, and metrics that summarize what’s happening across the network (TVL, volume, active users, fees, etc.).

Tools:

Platforms like Avalanche Stats, Snowpeer, Avalanche Stables, Frosty Metrics, Burned AVAX, L1Beat (Avalanche L1 performance comparison).

Helpful non-native complements: Dune Analytics or DefiLlama.

These platforms turn raw data into readable trends and visuals, but they don’t show every individual transaction.

3. Contextual Intelligence

This is the interpretation layer. It connects addresses, clusters activity, and reveals behavioral patterns across the network.

This layer is typically powered by third party platforms such as Arkham Intelligence or Nansen.

Avalanche has strong native tooling, but deep wallet labeling and entity mapping still rely on these specialized systems.

Every use case in this guide pulls from one or more of these layers. Explorers confirm facts, dashboards summarize activity, and intelligence tools help explain behavior.

Scenario 1: “I want to trace a transaction”

Primary Tools:

SnowTrace (the primary explorer for Avalanche C-Chain transactions and smart contracts), SnowScan, and Avascan.

This is usually the first stop when you have a transaction hash and want to understand exactly what happened onchain.

Most users start with SnowTrace because it feels familiar and direct. You paste a hash and immediately get status, timestamp, gas usage, and token transfers. That answers the first question, which is usually “did it go through?” or “what assets moved?”.

From there, the real analysis begins.

In practice, use the tool in sequence:

1. Paste the hash → instant confirmation.

2. Jump to Token Transfers for the clean in/out summary.

3. Open Internal Transactions if it’s a complex DeFi swap, approval chain, or multi-hop router call.

Snowtrace excels at raw EVM depth: detailed lists of every internal call, decoded logs, state and token movements. It’s the tool you reach for when you need to audit exactly what happened step-by-step on the C-Chain.

The Perfect Duo: Pair It with Avascan

While Snowtrace gives you the deepest EVM-level detail, Avascan is the cleaner, more narrative companion, especially when you want context or the transaction “story” feels messy.

Real-world example:

Take this recent Trader Joe (LFJ) swap:

0x4e2ed13da043c7657ca5ff97b5556bac44b2780a9bc579b8355ed86c24494031

On Snowtrace you’ll instantly see the Token Transfers tab with the exact in/out amounts and the detailed Internal Transactions.

Jump to Avascan for the smoother, easier-to-read view of the entire swap path.

Takeaway

Bookmark Snowtrace/SnowScan as your default for any C-Chain transaction or token analysis. Keep Avascan one tab away as the perfect complementary tool.

Scenario 2: “I want validator / network data”

Primary Tools:

Avalanche’s official Explorer and Snowpeer.

If you are researching staking, evaluating a node, or checking network health, the Avalanche Explorer is the natural starting point. It covers all three chains of Avalanche’s Primary Network, including the X, P, and C chains, and provides direct access to validator sets, staking data, and overall network activity.

If your goal is to understand how many validators are active, how much AVAX is staked, or how the network is evolving over time, this is where you begin. It gives you the ground truth.

The challenge isn’t finding the data, it’s making it useful. While the Explorer provides detailed information on individual validators, including stake, uptime, and delegation history, it is not designed for comparison at scale. Evaluating multiple validators or identifying performance patterns across the network becomes slow and manual.

This is where Snowpeer becomes useful.

Snowpeer is built specifically for validator analytics. It tracks uptime, reward performance, block production, and delegation trends over time. Instead of a static snapshot, it provides a dynamic view of how validators perform across different periods.

In practice, the difference is straightforward.

The Avalanche Explorer lets you inspect a validator.
Snowpeer lets you compare many of them at once.

By applying filters, tracking changes over time, and surfacing performance trends, Snowpeer turns raw validator data into something you can actually act on. It becomes possible to identify which validators are consistently reliable without evaluating them one by one.

Takeaway

Use the Avalanche Explorer for network level facts. Move to Snowpeer when you need to evaluate reliability over time, especially before delegating.

Scenario 3: “I want to track DeFi activity” (DEX Volume, TVL, Lending, Swaps)

Primary Tool:

Frosty Metrics

Explorers are built for individual transactions. They are not designed to summarize thousands of swaps, lending actions, or liquidity movements across protocols.

If your question is about volume, total value locked, or activity across the ecosystem, you need to move up a layer.

Frosty Metrics is one of the strongest Avalanche-native analytics platforms available. It delivers real-time DeFi dashboards covering DEXes, lending protocols, NFTs, Gaming and Layer1’s, with developer-friendly APIs that already power official Avalanche initiatives including the Chill Factor airdrop.

The data is aggregated, clean, and Avalanche-specific; you are not filtering out irrelevant chains.

For supplementary context:

• Snowpeer → Real-time network + DeFi analytics (DEX volume, stablecoin flows, active addresses)

• Avalanche Stables → Specialized stablecoin tracking (market cap, dominance, supply) crucial for most DeFi activity

• Avalanche Stats / Builders Hub and L1Beat → Broader context on overall network health and L1-level DeFi performance

Helpful non-native complements (when you need maximum flexibility):

• Dune Analytics → for fully custom queries and charts (many Avalanche DeFi projects already have community dashboards for Trader Joe, Pangolin, etc.)

• DefiLlama → quick cross-protocol TVL and volume overviews

Real-world example:

You’re deciding where to provide liquidity before a protocol becomes much more active and attracts more users and capital.

• On Frosty Metrics or Snowpeer you instantly see: “Trader Joe: $10M TVL, 50k txs/day; Pangolin: $2M TVL, 5k txs/day.”

• Avalanche Stables shows which stablecoins are dominating those flows.

• If you want to go deeper, a Dune dashboard lets you overlay volume trends across every DEX on Avalanche.

Takeaway

Raw explorers (Snowtrace, Avascan, Official Explorer) are great for single transactions but useless for summarizing thousands of swaps or TVL trends. Use Avalanche-native tools like Frosty Metrics and Snowpeer first; they give you the cleanest, most relevant picture without leaving the ecosystem.

Conclusion: The Right Tool Is the Right Question

Onchain data is only as useful as the lens you use to read it.

Avalanche’s exploration stack is deep, but it is not complicated once you map it to intent. Start with raw data when you need facts: a transaction hash, a validator’s listed uptime, a wallet’s transfer history. Move to structured analytics when you need patterns: DeFi volume trends, validator reliability over time, stablecoin flow across protocols. Bring in contextual intelligence only when behavior and relationships matter more than individual events. Most onchain work never needs to leave the first two layers.

The tooling will keep evolving. New L1s, new protocols, and new data surfaces are coming onto Avalanche regularly. But the mental model holds regardless: know what you are trying to answer, identify which layer that question lives in, then pick the tool built for that layer.

That is the difference between reading a transaction and actually understanding what happened.

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Asia’s largest financial institutions have spent years building blockchain infrastructure in isolation. Separate networks, separate standards, separate ecosystems. What is emerging now is different.

Across South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand, major institutions are converging on the same infrastructure layer. That layer is Avalanche.

The latest addition is NHN KCP, South Korea’s leading payment processor. It joins TIS, SMBC, KBank, FinChain, StraitsX, and Progmat, a roster that now spans payments, securities, stablecoins, and cross-border settlement across the continent’s largest economies.

NHN KCP: Korea’s Payment Infrastructure Goes On-Chain

NHN KCP processed over $38 billion in annual transaction volume in 2025. The company is co-developing a payment-dedicated blockchain with Ava Labs, built on AvaCloud.

NHN KCP leads the architecture design based on its payment expertise, with Ava Labs handling integration support. The platform delivers three core capabilities:

• Sub-one-second payment authorization

• Onchain encryption of transaction and settlement data

• Dedicated mainnets and digital wallets for each merchant

The result is merchants operating their own payment ecosystems rather than competing for shared blockspace. The infrastructure is also designed to support tokenized deposits and multi-stablecoin settlement, positioning NHN KCP as the central driver for institutional blockchain adoption in Korea.

But Korea is only part of the picture.

Japan

Japan has the most developed institutional footprint on Avalanche in the region.

Progmat, which holds approximately 63 percent of Japan’s cumulative security token issuance, is migrating more than $2 billion in tokenized real estate and corporate bonds from Corda to a dedicated Avalanche L1. The migration is scheduled to be completed by June 2026.

TIS, which handles roughly half of Japan’s credit card transaction volume, has deployed a Multi-Token Platform on Avalanche supporting the issuance of regulated stablecoins and security tokens at the scale Japan’s economy requires.

SMBC is collaborating with Ava Labs to enable stablecoins to move money globally around the clock, bypassing the delays built into traditional correspondent banking.

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is emerging as Avalanche’s institutional RWA hub.

FinChain, a blockchain finance platform under Fosun Wealth Holdings, has launched FUSD on Avalanche, a yield-bearing stablecoin backed by real-world assets including money market funds and government bonds from BNY Mellon, ChinaAMC, and Taikang. Unlike conventional stablecoins, FUSD generates native yield from its underlying reserves while remaining fully liquid within DeFi. Beyond FUSD, Fosun Wealth plans to deploy broader tokenized asset infrastructure on Avalanche, covering issuance, trading, and collateralization of real-world financial instruments.

Animoca Brands and Ava Labs also announced a collaboration in March 2026 to support Avalanche ecosystem growth across Asia and the Middle East, with an initial focus on real-world assets, entertainment, and digital identity. Animoca’s portfolio of over 600 companies gives Avalanche-based projects direct access to institutional distribution channels across both regions.

Singapore

Singapore has become the region’s hub for regulated digital liquidity.

StraitsX, licensed as a Major Payment Institution by the Monetary Authority of Singapore, operates a dedicated Avalanche L1 to settle regulated stablecoins including XSGD and XUSD. Through a strategic partnership with Grab and AliPay+, StraitsX is integrating stablecoin payments across Southeast Asian markets. Merchants receive instant settlement while the blockchain layer stays invisible to the end user.

Thailand

This vision of interoperable, regulated finance is most visible in the cross-border corridor connecting Singapore and Thailand.

KBank, through its subsidiary Orbix Technology, has enabled live payments between the two countries through its Q Wallet. Thai travelers pay Singaporean merchants via QR code in real time. The underlying foreign exchange and settlement are handled instantly on-chain, through a connection between Quarix, Thailand’s domestic blockchain network, and StraitsX’s Avalanche L1.

Why Avalanche

Each institution arrived at the same answer for the same reason.

Avalanche L1s allow them to define their own rules, select their own validators, and implement their own compliance and privacy layers, without giving up interoperability with the broader network. They get sovereign infrastructure without isolation.

This is the architecture that regulated institutions need. And it is the reason that what started as individual deployments is beginning to look like a regional standard.

Asia’s financial infrastructure is converging. The institutions are real, the deployments are live, and they are all building on the same rail.

Update: Progmat Takes On Japan’s Government Bond Market

One development that was not yet public when this article was written: Progmat is leading the development of a framework to tokenize Japanese Government Bonds.

On May 8, 2026, the company launched the Tokenized JGB / On-Chain Repo Working Group under the Digital Asset Co-Creation Consortium, which it chairs. The target is Japan’s government bond repo market, worth roughly $1.6 trillion. Tokenized bonds handle the collateral. Stablecoins handle the cash. Settlement that currently takes a full business day moves to the same day.

The working group includes BlackRock Japan, SMBC, MUFG, Mizuho, and Daiwa Securities, among others. Ava Labs is on the blockchain infrastructure side. A report is expected by October 2026.

The deployments keep coming.

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A little over a year ago, 25 people gathered inside HashHouse in Medellín, Colombia, for a developer workshop organized by Chimba and led by Alejandro Soto. At the time, most people in the room were trying to understand what Avalanche was, how it worked, and what made it different. Nobody apart from one person was thinking about a simple workshop that would scale into a global team. But it did.

Team1 became a global orgaization and has recently started rolling out official chapters. Five other chapters have already went live in the last two months and now, Team1 LatAm is also launching as part of the global Team1 network.

Colombia as the Origin

CryptoChimba had been mapping how Avalanche could grow in Latin America long before there was a formal program like Team1 to join. He focused on the region’s context: high crypto adoption, real financial friction, and a population open to alternative systems.

Rather than waiting, he started engaging local stakeholders directly. That included conversations with government representatives in Medellín, where Avalanche was introduced as a practical tool across finance, infrastructure, and community development. Within weeks, Avalanche had a visible public presence in the city, including advertisements placed in the Medellín metro.

From Local Activity to Regional Structure

Growth followed through consistent on-the-ground work: workshops, university tours, and community meetups across multiple cities. Isolated efforts began connecting. Builders met other builders. Students became developers. Local communities started organizing themselves around shared goals.

That momentum is now a regional network:

• 100+ events across Latin America

• 6,100 total attendees

• 2,250+ builders activated

Team1 LatAm is just step one. As different countries within the region grow, official chapters like Team1 Colombia, Team1 Argentina, etc. will be rolled out.

A Different Builder Context

In much of Latin America, blockchain addresses concrete problems: limited access to financial systems, inefficient infrastructure, and constrained economic mobility. That context shapes how builders work. Outcomes matter more than experimentation. Collaboration is practical, and projects move forward because the problems behind them are real.

One of the clearest shifts over the past year has been the transition from curiosity to execution. Participants who entered through workshops and university programs are now competing in hackathons, shipping products, working in the ecosystem, and integrating into broader Avalanche initiatives.

Built to Last

Over the next three to five years, Team1 LATAM will expand developer education at universities across the region, building a pipeline of builders who move from the classroom into the Avalanche ecosystem. The number of LATAM projects competing in global initiatives will grow. Team1 will connect local startups with international investors and partners, helping teams move from early prototypes to products that reach global markets.

The events, mentorship, and builder networks that made the first phase possible are already scaling to meet the needs of the next phase.

A Movement That Started Locally

Team1 LATAM grew from people who understood the technology and the environment where it could take root. That combination produced something the region now exports: a model for builder-led community growth that Team1 chapters on five continents have followed.

It started with a vision in one room in Medellín. Now rooms around the world are being filled everyday.

Join Team1 LATAM

Team1 LATAM is open to developers, founders, and contributors ready to build within the Avalanche ecosystem.

• Join the Telegram community here: https://t.me/team1_latam

• Follow on X: https://x.com/Team1LatAm

  Want to keep up with the latest in the Avalanche ecosystem? Subscribe to the Team1 blog and get our updates in your inbox weekly.

April 2026 was Avalanche in production mode. Bitwise’s $BAVA launched on NYSE. CME announced AVAX futures launching May 4th. Broadridge Financial chose Avalanche for onchain proxy voting.

The network activated sub-second block times, delivering faster confirmations and snappier dapps. Daily transactions surged from low hundreds of thousands to 2.5-3M, marking some of the strongest onchain growth in the industry. Tokenized assets on Avalanche surpassed $1.8B. Over 600 projects now build in the ecosystem.

Korea’s institutional adoption accelerated: JB Bank completed KRW stablecoin pilot, NHN KCP launched a dedicated L1 for payment infrastructure. Team1 expanded again with official Brasil and Türkiye chapters, adding to USA, Vietnam, and India. The grassroots movement is global.

Daily Transactions Surge from Hundreds of Thousands to 2.5-3M

Activity on Avalanche C-Chain exploded with daily transactions growing from low hundreds of thousands in April 2025 to 2.5-3M in 2026. [Growth analysis]

Sub-Second Block Times Activate Network-Wide:

Avalanche officially achieved sub-second block times, drastically increasing transaction speed and responsiveness with faster confirmations, snappier dapps, quicker state updates, and a more responsive onchain feel. [Announcement]

April saw Team1’s continued global expansion with official launches in Brazil and Türkiye, joining the recently established USA, Vietnam, and India chapters to build grassroots blockchain adoption worldwide.

Team1 Brasil Officially Launches:

Team1 Brasil launched after building a foundation across Brasil over the past 1.5 years, creating opportunities for builders before becoming an official chapter and establishing a strong local presence. [Brasil announcement]

Team1 Türkiye Becomes Official Chapter:

Team1 Türkiye officially launched after years of actively contributing to ecosystem growth and onboarding talent, having accomplished 35+ events with 3,850 attendees across Turkey and hands-on engagement with developers and students. [Türkiye launch]

Team1 India: Two Weeks, Massive Results:

Two weeks after the official rollout, Team1 India hosted 10 events across cities and universities with 700+ founders, devs, builders and community members showing up IRL. [India update]

Team1 LatAm Institutional Hackathon Announced:

Team1 LatAm announced the LatAm Institutional Hackathon for May 15-17 solving problems to transform Latin America’s institutions, in collaboration with Foro Blockchain, with official Pre-Training Bootcamp to prepare participants. [Hackathon details]

Team1 & OVHcloud at Paris Blockchain Week:

Team1’s “Builders Night” with OVHcloud at PBW 2026 saw massive demand, drawing over 1,200 registrations. The event focused on bridging enterprise cloud infrastructure with Avalanche L1s, marking the start of a long-term collaboration to enable sovereign, institutional-scale onchain scaling. [Team1 x OVHCloud PBW]

Global Events Every Week:

Avalanche events happened every week around the globe with Team1 expanding through meetups, workshops, and university activations across regions showing real impact: [Weekly events]

Retro9000 C-Chain Round 1 Results Announced & Round 2 Completes:

Retro9000 C-Chain Round 2 completed with snapshot finalized. [Round 1 results] | [Round 2 complete]

Club HashCash Hashathon Applications Open:

Club HashCash Hashathon applications opened awarding $6,500 in USDC plus specialized miner prizes, with application deadline April 10th and project submission deadline April 14th. Team1 joined as a premium sponsor.

Zero Fee Stablecoin Onramps for Agentic Economy:

Avalanche now has zero fee stablecoin onramps for the agentic economy. [Learn more]

600+ Projects in Avalanche Ecosystem:

The Avalanche ecosystem reached 600+ projects and continues growing - built to scale. [Ecosystem milestone]

Avalanche Foundation Research Grants for Network Economics:

The Avalanche Foundation announced up to $50K in grants for research on tokenomics, validator incentives, and how value accrues onchain, funding the future of network economics. [Apply here]

Avalanche Foundation Hiring Software Engineer:

The Avalanche Foundation opened a role seeking T-shaped Software Engineer for the Treasury team, building data infrastructure, analytics, and tooling that power DeFi strategy across Avalanche. [Job posting]

The Grotto Game Jams Continue:

The Grotto launched a new Game Jam with fresh incentives for indie builders creating gaming experiences on Avalanche L1. [Game Jam details]

M3LEE Prediction Platform Launch:

M3LEE Beta opened as a live prediction platform for streams and communities with short, interactive markets resolving in minutes where users predict and creators earn, built on Avalanche. [M3LEE launch]

Pollit the market for Crowd Sentiment:

Pollit crossed 200 monetized polls launched with creators earning and the crowd winning, sharing $2K across leaderboard. [Pollit milestone]

Avax Bingo Game Goes Live:

AVAX Bingo mint concluded and the game officially went live with predictions completed through June 24th counted and leaderboard tracking who’s ahead. [Play now]

Blaze Crosses 4,000 Daily Active Users:

Blaze surpassed 4,000 daily active users with no shortcuts or gimmicks, just consistent building and real traction, growing every single week. [Blaze growth]

Arena Mobile App Launches on iOS & Breaks Top 100:

The Arena mobile app went live on iOS under “The Arena: SocialFi,” with full global availability. It broke into the top 100 apps in the Social Networking category within 48 hours, despite swaps, token launches, and perpetual trading not yet included. [iOS launch] | [Top 100 milestone]

W3.io Launches First Control Platform for Agent-Powered Finance:

W3.io launched on Avalanche as the first control platform for agent-powered finance with autonomous agents moving money faster than enterprises can follow, processing 200,000+ workflows per day live. [Official launch]

Routescan AI Agent Goes Live on Snowtrace:

Routescan AI Agent went live on Snowtrace enabling natural language queries for real-time, verifiable onchain data on Avalanche.

Kite AI Mainnet & Kite Passport Go Live:

Kite AI mainnet and Kite Passport launched on a dedicated L1, letting autonomous AI agents transact, buy, and interact on their own with Kite Passport for identity and payments. [Mainnet launch]

Bitwise Launches $BAVA on NYSE with $19M AUM:

Bitwise launched the Bitwise Avalanche ETF $BAVA on NYSE offering investors exposure to AVAX. Around $70M is now held in AVAX spot ETFs/ETPs total. [BAVA launch]

CME Announces AVAX Futures Launching May 4th:

CME Group announced AVAX futures launching May 4th pending regulatory review. [CME announcement]

Tokenized Assets Surpass $1.8B on Avalanche:

Tokenized asset market cap on Avalanche surpassed $1.8B with Centrifuge as the largest issuer followed by Securitize and FTI, including JAAA credit fund managed by Janus Henderson and tokenized via Centrifuge holding the leading position. [Market cap milestone] | [Top tokenized funds]

Blockdaemon Expands Institutional Staking:

The Avalanche Foundation supported Blockdaemon in expanding institutional AVAX staking support on Avalanche. [Blockdaemon expansion]

Broadridge Brings $8T Proxy Voting Onchain:

Broadridge Financial Solutions, one of Wall Street’s most powerful technology firms processing trillions from thousands of public companies, chose Avalanche to host its new onchain proxy voting infrastructure powering shareholder governance globally, with Galaxy first to use it. [Broadridge deal]

Korea’s JB Bank Completes Stablecoin Pilot & NHN KCP Launches L1:

Korea’s JB Bank completed its KRW stablecoin and tokenized deposit pilot on Avalanche. NHN KCP, South Korea’s leading payment processor, launched a dedicated Avalanche L1 via AvaCloud to modernize the nation’s payment infrastructure. [JB Bank pilot] | [NHN KCP breaking]

StraitsX Chooses Own Avalanche L1 for Cross-Border Payments:

Built for cross-border payments with stablecoins, StraitsX chose its own Avalanche L1 for full control, real-time settlement, and access to global liquidity as discussed at Singapore Fintech Festival. [StraitsX L1]

Algebra DEX Model Available Across Avalanche L1s:

Algebra made its battle-tested DEX model available across Avalanche L1s, making it easy for any protocol to launch high-quality DEX, white-label, modular, ready to go. [Algebra integration]

$400M+ Moved to Avalanche Through Mayan:

Over $400M has moved to Avalanche through Mayan to date. [Mayan volume]

Lynq Network Migrates to Dedicated Avalanche L1:

Lynq Network migrated to a dedicated Avalanche L1 to power real-time payments and collateral mobility, purpose-built for institutional operations. [Lynq migration]

FractiFi Partners for Tokenized Deposits:

FractiFi partnered with Avalanche building settlement infrastructure for tokenized deposits and institutional cash management onchain. [FractiFi partnership]

SecondSwap Crosses $5M TVL:

SecondSwap crossed $5M in TVL led by a recent $3M contribution from RWA projects on Avalanche. [SecondSwap milestone]

Axiym Finance Surpasses $1.2B Transaction Volume:

Axiym Finance’s Pay Now, Settle Later (PNSL) model surpassed $1.2B in transaction volume in less than a year on Avalanche. [Axiym volume]

Haycen Settles Real Commodity Trades:

Haycen, a regulated stablecoin platform, chose Avalanche to settle real commodity trades including oil, metals, and agricultural goods moving across borders. [Haycen integration]

Pangolin Partners with Coimex for Tokenized Agricultural Commodities:

Pangolin partnered with Coimex Global bringing tokenized agricultural commodities to Avalanche, unlocking real-world markets directly through DeFi. [Pangolin partnership]

Skymapper Building L1 for Space Observations:

Skymapper is building an Avalanche L1 to verify telescope space observations onchain for intelligence communities worldwide to access. [Skymapper L1]

Tippikl Teases Mobile App:

Tippikl teased mobile app for seamless tipping and social payments on Avalanche. [Mobile app preview]

Core Mobile App Supports Ledger via Bluetooth:

Core’s mobile app now supports Ledger connectivity over Bluetooth, allowing users to sign transactions from phone with hardware wallet security. [Ledger integration]

USDS & sUSDS Now Natively Available via Skylink:

Grove pioneered direct transfers of USDS and sUSDS from Ethereum Mainnet to Avalanche via Skylink, Sky Ecosystem’s crosschain bridge infrastructure. [Skylink integration]

Avalanche Summit NYC: September 16-17

Avalanche Summit is coming home September 16-17th, at Chelsea Industrial in New York City, the biggest Avalanche event of the year with limited early bird tickets on sale. [Get tickets]

Carlos Domingo on Layer One Podcast:

Grove Field Notes with Morgan Krupetsky:

Morgan Krupetsky and Kevin Li Chan discussed how institutional credit scales through infrastructure that supports it, with Avalanche providing the rails. [Grove Field Notes]

Avalanche Annual Report Released:

The comprehensive Avalanche Annual Report was published detailing ecosystem growth and achievements. [Read report]

Avalanche Ecosystem AMA:

John Nahas, Morgan Krupetsky, Arran Schlosberg, and Brian covered updates and fielded questions around the Avalanche ecosystem.

April 2026 validated Avalanche at institutional scale. Bitwise’s $BAVA becoming the largest AVAX ETF with $19M AUM, CME listing futures, and Broadridge bringing $8T proxy voting onchain proved enterprises choose Avalanche when it matters. Sub-second block times and daily transactions surging to 2.5-3M demonstrated scale at its best.

Team1’s expansion to Brasil and Türkiye, adding to USA, Vietnam, and India, built global grassroots infrastructure. Korea’s institutional wave with JB Bank and NHN KCP, tokenized assets surpassing $1.8B, and over 600 ecosystem projects showed momentum compounding across every vertical.

The network is faster. The institutions are here. The community is everywhere.

Dive into the Avalanche ecosystem today! Download the Core Wallet and unlock a world of seamless DeFi, NFTs, and more.

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What Kite Actually Does

AI agents can browse the web, call APIs, and trigger workflows. But they stall at monetary transactions. Payment infrastructure assumes a person is approving charges, entering card numbers, and waiting for settlement. Agents operate at machine speed, and they need rails that keep up.

Kite provides three pieces. Kite Passport provides agents with a persistent cryptographic identity, enabling them to prove their identity and operate within defined permissions. Programmable delegation allows an agent to act on behalf of a user or organization within predefined boundaries. And stablecoin-based settlement happens in line with execution. No batch processing and no delays.

The testnet metrics add weight. Kite processed over 1.9 billion agent interactions before launch. Daily peaks hit 30 million calls. PayPal Ventures and General Catalyst led a $33 million raise. PayPal is piloting the infrastructure now, and Shopify integrations are in progress.

What Builders in the Avalanche Ecosystem Could Do With This

If you’re shipping on Avalanche, Kite opens up product categories that were previously difficult to build.

Picture a data marketplace where agents purchase datasets per query, paying fractions of a cent per call with zero human approval. Or an API service that charges AI customers programmatically and instantly, the same way it charges human ones. Developers building on Ava Cloud could create agent-facing services that combine access and payment into a single step.

Gaming studios could give in-game agents control over their own micro-economies: buying resources, trading items, and settling transactions continuously during gameplay. DeFi teams could build protocols where automated strategies pay for oracle data, execution services, or cross-chain bridging on every operation.

The pattern is the same across all of these. Wherever software needs to pay for access, Kite provides a way to do so on Avalanche with sub-second finality and predictable costs.

When Software Can Prove Who It Is

Kite Passport deserves a closer look.

Today, agents borrow their operator’s credentials. That creates a problem. A DeFi bot running a yield strategy shouldn’t need full access to its owners’ funds to pay for an oracle call. A gaming agent managing in-game trades shouldn’t share keys with the player who deployed it.

Kite Passport separates the agent from its owner. Each agent gets a verifiable, cryptographic identity and scoped permissions. It can authenticate with services and transact within limits set by someone else. The agent acts. The owner stays in control.

For builders, this changes what you can design. You can create services that verify an agent’s identity before granting access, set spending caps per session, or revoke permissions instantly. Products built this way treat agents as accountable participants rather than anonymous scripts firing requests.

On Avalanche, where sub-second finality and low fees already support high-frequency activity, adding identity and scoped authority to that speed makes agent-facing products viable in a way they weren’t just six months ago.

Explore Kite’s mainnet and documentation to start building.

DeFi’s core promise has always been access: sophisticated financial tools, open to anyone, without intermediaries. The reality is more complicated. Yield farming, funding rate arbitrage, and liquidity rebalancing across multiple protocols require constant attention and technical knowledge that most investors do not have. Knidos is built on the premise that this gap should be closed by automation, not effort.

Backed by the Avalanche Foundation and XVentures, Knidos is an onchain asset management platform that hands portfolio execution to AI agents running on smart contracts. It launches on Avalanche, with Base and Ethereum support built in, arriving at a moment when AI-driven DeFi is becoming one of the more serious narratives across the Avalanche ecosystem.

Solving the Black Box Problem

The main objection to AI-managed crypto funds is transparency. Most platforms ask investors to trust performance numbers with little visibility into how decisions are actually made. Knidos addresses this through ZK trade proofs: cryptographic verifications that confirm trades happened correctly without exposing the underlying strategy. The practical outcome is that performance is not just reported, it is provable. In a sector with a history of opaque fund structures, that difference is significant.

The non-custodial model covers the other side of the trust equation. Funds are held in audited smart contracts, and AI agents work within clearly defined boundaries. They can trade and reallocate within their strategy parameters, but they cannot withdraw funds. Investors keep control of their assets throughout.

Three Strategies, One Autonomous System

Knidos runs three core strategies, each in its own isolated onchain pool. Funding rate arbitrage captures income from price differences between futures contracts and spot markets. Liquidity pool optimization moves capital across DeFi protocols to find better yields. Active trading executes on major crypto assets based on signals generated by the AI models.

The models pull from on-chain data, exchange order books, funding rates, and market sentiment continuously. Results feed back into the system in real time, so the agents are adjusting to what is actually happening in the market rather than running on fixed rules.

The Avalanche Context

Avalanche’s speed and low transaction costs make it a practical home for a platform that needs to act on market opportunities quickly and cheaply. Beyond the infrastructure fit, the Avalanche Foundation’s direct investment in Knidos reflects a broader ecosystem priority, with autonomous onchain agents treated as a core growth area rather than a side experiment. Knidos is built to expand across other chains over time, but launching within Avalanche puts it at the center of a network that is already moving in this direction.

The Testnet Is Live

Knidos is open for testing now. If you have an invite code, head to testnet.knidos.xyz and use the email you waitlisted with. If you do not have access yet, you can join the waitlist on their website at knidos.xyz. For a deeper look at how the platform works, the full documentation is at knidos.gitbook.io. Follow their X account, @knidosxyz for updates.

Dive into the Avalanche ecosystem today! Download the Core Wallet and unlock a world of seamless DeFi, NFTs, and more.

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Every sports fan has a team they bleed for. They buy the jersey, show up to the games, spend money at every partner brand in the city, and get nothing back for it.

And it’s beyond sports. You already spend money every single day. Groceries, coffee, gas, dinner. None of it has ever worked in your favor beyond the purchase itself.

Uptop looked at all of that and saw an opportunity the entire industry had been sitting on without doing anything about. So they built a platform with fans at the center.

What is Uptop?

Uptop is an onchain rewards platform built on Avalanche that turns everyday card purchases into loyalty points for fans, brands, and sponsors.

The simplest way to understand it: you link your existing debit or credit card once, and every time you spend money at a participating brand or partner location, you automatically earn points toward rewards from the teams and organizations you already love. Tickets. Signed memorabilia. VIP experiences. Seat upgrades. Exclusive access. All earned through purchases you were already going to make anyway.

It operates as a white-label platform, meaning sports teams and organizations put their own name and branding on it. The Cleveland Cavaliers call it Cavs Rewards. The Detroit Pistons call it Pistons Rewards. LSU calls it Geaux Rewards. The Empire State Building has its own Ambassador Program. Uptop is the engine running quietly underneath all of them.

One of its distinct features from traditional loyalty programs is the open-loop design. Most loyalty programs are closed, meaning your points only work within one brand’s ecosystem. Uptop connects multiple businesses, local and national sponsors, and the team itself into one shared rewards network. A fan earns points at a grocery store, a restaurant, a gas station, and redeems them for courtside seats. Everything settles on Avalanche, which handles the point issuance, badge minting, and partner settlements in fractions of a second.

For teams and sponsors, Uptop is also a data platform. They can see what their fanbase is buying, which sponsors are driving behavior, and where engagement is strongest, giving them enough attribution data to trace user activity.

The idea is straightforward: the brands and sports teams you love should be able to reward you for the everyday things you do.

Built on Avalanche

Behind the scenes, it runs on Avalanche, tracking rewards accurately and handling loyalty rewards at scale.

Avalanche’s infrastructure enables points, badges, and partner settlements to be issued and processed in seconds, while keeping the experience simple. Because transactions finalize quickly, a fan buying at a Cleveland restaurant that supports the Cavaliers can receive points immediately, with clear tracking and low enough costs to support large-scale use.

The blockchain is completely invisible to the fan. What they see is a reward. What runs underneath is Avalanche.

Proof That It Works: The Cavs, The Pistons, and LSU

Uptop has live programs running across the NBA and college sports, with real numbers to back them up.

The flagship is Cavs Rewards, launched in October 2024 with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Cavs Rewards is a fan engagement program designed to bring fans unforgettable rewards and connect businesses in Cleveland with the Cavs community. It delivers a sports open-loop rewards system that allows a team or league’s sponsors to participate directly in the fan loyalty program. Sponsors have seen a 21% lift in spend from enrolled members and a 51% boost in Team Shop sales since launch.

The numbers sparked instant interest. When Uptop showcased the Cavs program metrics to LSU, it quickly became evident that several of their existing brand partners were eager to plug into this kind of fan engagement experience.

The Detroit Pistons launched Pistons Rewards in partnership with Uptop, designed to reward the loyalty of Detroit basketball fans through everyday purchases, Pistons Rewards gives fans the opportunity to earn “Pistons points” from transactions like grocery stores, restaurants, and more. Once fans have earned points, they can be redeemed for exclusive team prizes, such as VIP experiences, tickets, merchandise, and memorabilia.

Early registration tracked 50% faster than Cleveland’s pre-launch period.

Then came college sports. Uptop partnered with LSU Athletics to launch Geaux Rewards, a fan engagement program that unites fans across all LSU Athletics programs, rewarding their engagement with points redeemable for exclusive prizes and experiences. Geaux Rewards spans the full spectrum of LSU Athletics, covering football, basketball, baseball, gymnastics, and more.

Beyond sports, Uptop also powers the Empire State Building’s Ambassador Program. The range of partners shows that the product has reached well beyond the arena.

What Makes it Different?

Traditional loyalty programs are closed loops. Your airline miles only work on that airline. Your supermarket points stay in that supermarket. They are designed to lock you in, not reward you freely. Uptop works differently.

Uptop’s platform awards fans digital badges representing status tiers powered by Avalanche. A fan profile represents proof of fandom, which not only gamifies the fan experience but introduces users to the tangible benefits of blockchain technology.

The platform connects neighborhood businesses with national sponsors in the same ecosystem, meaning the sponsor dollars that used to fund billboards and broadcast ads now flow directly back to fans in a form they can actually use. Because everything settles on Avalanche, attribution is concrete. Brands know exactly what drove a purchase.

Beyond creating a new source of partnership revenue, sports teams use Uptop to engage fans year-round and understand how they spend. They can track what fans buy, when they buy it, and which sponsors drive those purchases. In many cases, that kind of data is more valuable than a single sponsorship deal.

The Rain Acquisition: Going Global

In November 2025, Uptop was acquired by Rain, the enterprise-grade infrastructure platform for stablecoin-powered payments. The acquisition follows Rain’s recently secured $58 million Series B and accelerates the company’s commitment to delivering a complete, vertically integrated stack, including on-ramps, wallets, cards that work anywhere Visa is accepted, off-ramps and payouts, and now native rewards.

Rain’s CEO Farooq Malik put the reasoning plainly: “We’re building end-to-end, stablecoin-native infrastructure so our clients don’t have to stitch it together. By integrating rewards, Rain continues to lead the stablecoin industry as a comprehensive platform that lets partners go live and scale fast, all while keeping the consumer experience simple.”

In the coming months, Rain partners will be able to launch branded rewards without managing third-party integrations, build wallet programs that combine branded balances, payments, and loyalty in one clean user flow, and run sponsored bonus-earn campaigns that drive measurable engagement and spend.

Uptop will continue to operate as an independent brand under Rain, with its reach expanding beyond sports and entertainment into retail, travel, and dining. The user experience stays exactly the same but it’s reach expands through Rain’s 150-country card network.

How to Get Started

Getting into Uptop depends on which side of the ecosystem you are on.

1) For fans: The entry point is through whichever team program is live in your city. Uptop’s programs are free to join.

Steps:

1. Sign up through your team’s rewards page.

2. Connect a debit or credit card.

3. Earn points automatically on eligible purchases (in-store, online, or at the arena), as well as through promotions and referrals.

4. Redeem points for tickets, merchandise, memorabilia, or experiences.

Current programs:

Cleveland Cavaliers: nba.com/cavaliers/rewards

Detroit Pistons: pistons.com/rewards

2) For sports organizations and brands: Organizations can launch co-branded cards that allow fans to earn rewards from everyday spending. Rewards can include tickets, merchandise, seat upgrades, VIP access, or other experiences. Programs can also use unsold or unused inventory as rewards.

Program access:

Visit Uptop’s demo page: uptop.xyz/demo

Contact the team: uptop.xyz

The Bigger Picture

What Uptop has quietly proven is that blockchain adoption does not require users to understand blockchain. It requires a product good enough that people simply use it.

The approach stands in contrast to projects that require fans to purchase crypto, manage private keys, or understand token economics before participating. Uptop leverages blockchain to enhance familiar loyalty mechanics whilst maintaining traditional payment experiences.

That is the bet Avalanche made in backing this. The assumption is that when infrastructure is built correctly and paired with the right product, it can bring millions of users onchain through routine activities like buying a beer at a bar.

In practice, it points to the simple idea that adoption often follows utility, not the other way around.

Dive into the Avalanche ecosystem today! Download the Core Wallet and unlock a world of seamless DeFi, NFTs, and more.

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Activity began in 2024 with four contributors and has since grown into a coordinated network of more than 30 active builders, organizers, and operators, with a straightforward goal: to position Brasil as a global leader in blockchain adoption and innovation on Avalanche.

The Scale of The Movement

In just one and a half years, Team1 Brasil has become one of the most active grassroots blockchain communities in the region. More than 3,000 people have attended in-person experiences across major hubs and emerging tech cities. We’ve hosted 40+ events nationwide, built 12 university partnerships that bring Avalanche directly into academic programs, and delivered 8+ virtual workshops through the Web Workshop Series, reaching 460 participants from builders to developers across the country. Sports-focused initiatives have extended that reach even further, engaging football players and local communities in ways that go beyond the typical Web3 audience.

Brazilian communities stand out for their engagement. Participants are hands-on and eager to build at every event we host. That energy and commitment have driven consistent growth across meetups, workshops, and ecosystem activations.

Beyond Code: Real-World Builder Energy

A defining strength of Team1 Brasil is its ability to turn curiosity into execution. Most members have already hosted at least one event, and new opportunities occur daily.

From university classrooms to large-scale events like Team1 Networking Hub, the focus stays the same: build environments where people can experiment, collaborate, and ship products. Brazilian teams have shown strong results in global initiatives like Build Games, including PIX payment integrations that reflect real local use cases.

Developers are only one part of the picture. Designers, founders, gamers, and community leaders all shape a multi-dimensional ecosystem that reflects the diversity of Brasil itself.

Building the Future of Digital Infrastructure

Team1 Brasil operates with a clear thesis: blockchain is the foundation for the next generation of digital infrastructure.

The next phase centers on structured builder pathways. Students learn smart contract development and Avalanche tooling, including SDKs and custom L1 deployment. City-level initiatives run alongside these programs to keep builders connected after the first workshop ends, turning one-time participants into long-term contributors.

Education plus community is the winning formula. One without the other produces short-term spikes. But together, they build a thriving ecosystem.

Less Noise. More Execution.

Team1 Brasil is designed for people who want to build and ship.

The environment we created is practical and founder-focused, where real outcomes carry more weight than narratives. Brazilian builders are already proving this through global competitions and real product development. Our foundation is solid, and our work speaks for itself.

Welcome to Team1 Brasil.

Stay Connected: X | Telegram | Luma

What if trading on Avalanche came with real, tangible perks just for being part of the community?

That is exactly what this partnership delivers. OKX Wallet and Team1 have announced a strategic collaboration that gives Team1 members exclusive access to reduced trading fees on the OKX DEX, directly rewarding the people building and contributing to the Avalanche ecosystem every day.

What is OKX Wallet?

OKX Wallet is a non-custodial, multi-chain crypto wallet that works across more than 100 blockchains. Non-custodial means you hold your own private keys; no platform controls your assets.

Beyond basic wallet functions, OKX has grown into a full onchain operating system. A few things that make it stand out:

• Agentic Wallet: You can interact with DApps, swap tokens, and execute complex transactions using plain language commands rather than navigating menus manually.

• DEX Aggregator: Instead of using a single exchange, the aggregator scans multiple DEXs at once and routes your trade through the path that gives you the best rate and lowest slippage.

• All-in-one Interface: NFT marketplace, DApp browser, and yield platforms all live in one place, so you are not constantly switching between apps.

You can set up OKX Wallet in under five minutes at okx.com/web3/wallet.

What is Team1?

Team1 is a global community hub built around the Avalanche network. It brings together builders, developers, creatives, gamers, and everyday contributors, with a focus on growing the ecosystem through real participation rather than passive membership.

Since launching in April 2024 with an initial cohort of 190 members, Team1 has grown to over 700 members across 55 countries and six continents. The program runs an average of 30 community events every month and has collaborated with more than 80 universities worldwide.

Team1 operates across three core areas:

• Ecosystem Growth: Bringing in new talent and projects through technical support, hackathons, and regional community programs.

• Collaborative Innovation: Creating space for contributors to share resources, co-build projects, and push ideas forward together.

• Technical Advocacy: Spreading the Avalanche story globally through education, events, and on-the-ground community work.

What Does This Partnership Actually Mean for You?

The headline benefit is an exclusive trading fee discount on the OKX DEX for Team1 members. DEX aggregators typically charge interface fees on top of network fees. This partnership reduces those interface fees for Team1 members on eligible Avalanche swaps, meaning more value stays in your wallet on every trade.

Beyond the discount, the collaboration is designed to drive deeper liquidity into the Avalanche ecosystem. When trading costs less, more people trade more often, which strengthens liquidity pools and makes the network more attractive for builders and users alike.

How to Access Your Benefits as a Team1 Member

If you are already a Team1 member, here is how to get set up:

Step 1: Download OKX Wallet. Head to okx.com/web3/wallet and download the browser extension or mobile app. Create a new wallet or import an existing one, then connect to the Avalanche network.

Step 2: Head to the OKX DEX and connect your OKX Wallet. Before making any trades, enter the Team1 referral code AVAXTEAM1 in the referral field to link it to your wallet. Once successfully applied, your discount will automatically be activated on eligible swaps within the Avalanche network.

Step 3: Trade and Build Use the DEX aggregator to swap at optimized rates, explore DeFi opportunities on Avalanche, and take advantage of everything the OKX ecosystem offers, all with lower fees.

For any questions or support, the Team1 Discord is where the community and moderators are active. You can join the Discord here.

Why This Matters for the Avalanche Ecosystem

Partnerships like this one are most valuable when they translate into something real for the people doing the work. This one does. Builders and contributors on Avalanche now have access to professional-grade trading infrastructure at a lower cost, which removes friction whether you are managing treasury assets for a project, trading between positions, or simply participating in DeFi.

The broader impact is on liquidity. More trading activity means deeper pools, tighter spreads, and a more competitive environment on Avalanche. That benefits everyone in the ecosystem, not just Team1 members.

Not Yet Part of Team1?

Applications are currently closed, but you can join the waitlist at team1.network to be first in line when the next cohort opens. You will also get access to exclusive Team1 opportunities, events, and community updates in the meantime.

Follow Team1 on X and jump into the Team1 Discord to stay connected with what is being built across the ecosystem.

Dive into the Avalanche ecosystem today! Download the Core Wallet and unlock a world of seamless DeFi, NFTs, and more.

Download Core Wallet