Avalanche Unveils Avalanche9000 Upgrade, Reducing Deployment Costs

The Avalanche Foundation has launched its Avalanche9000 mainnet, marking what it calls the “biggest network upgrade” to date. The new upgrade, which went live on December 17, 2024, introduces significant improvements, particularly reducing deployment costs and C-Chain fees by over 90%.

The upgrade, known as Etna, addresses several issues that developers had been facing on the Avalanche network, including high staking requirements and high validator costs. These challenges were previously a barrier for new projects looking to deploy on Avalanche. With the Etna upgrade, layer1 blockchains are now able to operate independently from the primary Avalanche network, eliminating the need for validators to participate in the validation of the primary network. This change also means that each layer1 blockchain can now have its own dedicated validator set, reducing the complexity of the process.

Previously, when launching a new blockchain on Avalanche, developers had to receive validation from the primary network. This required a substantial upfront stake fee of at least 2000 AVAX tokens (worth about $100,000) and the necessary hardware for validation. With the new model, Avalanche claims to have reduced layer1 deployment costs by 99.9% and C-Chain fees by 96%, making it much more affordable for new projects to launch.

Another key feature of the Avalanche9000 upgrade is its Interchain Messaging (ICM) capability. This feature facilitates communication between the Avalanche C-Chain and new or existing Avalanche layer1 blockchains. Through ICM, developers can send and receive cross-chain EVM messages, including tokens, NFTs, and oracle price feeds, allowing for seamless interoperability across different Avalanche blockchains.

This upgrade also simplifies the process of building layer1 blockchains, giving developers greater flexibility to customize their blockchains in terms of staking, economics, gas, tokens, and more. The improvements brought by Avalanche9000 make it easier and faster for developers to bring their projects to market.

The launch of Avalanche9000 follows a major announcement on December 2, 2024, where the Avalanche Foundation teased the upcoming upgrade, calling it the most significant upgrade since the network’s inception. This upgrade comes at a time when Avalanche’s quarter-on-quarter metrics for Q3 2024 showed a strong upward trend, further validating the platform’s growth and innovation in the blockchain space.

With these significant changes, Avalanche is positioning itself as an even more attractive platform for developers and projects looking to deploy cost-efficient, customizable layer1 blockchains with a high degree of interoperability.