Avalanche Price Today

The current real-time Avalanche price is $26.82 . AVAX price has plummeted by 1.83% in the last day and increased by 3.39% in the last seven days. It’s important to note that the current AVAX market capitalization is $10,582,687,584. The maximum supply is 715,748,719.00 AVAX coins, with a circulating supply of 394,511,177.90. Avalanche is ranked #13 in terms of market cap.

Avalanche In A Nutshell

Avalanche (AVAX) is a layer one cryptocurrency project that made waves throughout 2021 thanks to its unique blockchain ecosystem and efficiency. It is designed to facilitate the creation of decentralized applications, which benefit from the network’s low fees and high throughput. 

Avalanche was launched in 2020 by Cornell University professor Emin Gün Sirer and Cornell alumni Kevin Sekniqi and Maofan Yin. Contrasting most other crypto projects, Avalanche features three blockchains, each fulfilling a specific purpose and improving the network’s overall efficiency. 

How Avalanche Works – Simplified 

The Avalanche network is split into three blockchains: C-Chain, P-Chain, and X-Chain, each having a particular purpose. 

The Contract Chain (C-Chain) supports smart contract implementation and execution. It has an Avalanche Virtual Machine, which allows Ethereum applications to be forked to the Avalanche network, making it easier for developers to port their successful Ethereum projects onto a cheaper network. 

The Platform Chain (P-Chain) is designed to manage transaction validation and organize network participants. It handles crypto staking, validating, and paying out staking rewards. The chain also facilitates the creation of subnets, essentially groups of validators. 

Exchange Chain (X-Chain) is the blockchain that facilitates transferring and receiving AVAX to and from others. In contrast to Ethereum, Avalanche’s X-Chain cannot be used with multi-chain crypto wallets like MetaMask. Instead, users must access X-Chain via the Avalanche web wallet.

The fees charged on the Avalanche network vary based on the type of transaction being conducted. For simple transfers, there is a  0.001 AVAX fee, while creating a subnet requires 1 AVAX. Usually, it takes roughly a second for transactions on the Avalanche network to settle.

What Makes Avalanche Unique

By creating three blockchains that each handle a specific aspect of the network, Avalanche aims to solve the blockchain trilemma, which states that blockchains can’t achieve a suitable blend of decentralization, security, and scalability. By splitting tasks between multiple chains, Avalanche can process more transactions without sacrificing decentralization or security. 

Another critical difference between Avalanche and other networks is that all transaction fees are burned, which reduces the circulating supply. Instead of just burning a portion of the generated fees as is typical, Avalanche burns the entire sum. 

Benefits of Avalanche

Developers created Blockchain to address the scalability issues that plague Ethereum. And even though it is not so different from other chains in this regard, the following are why most in the crypto space are bullish about AVAX.

• Interoperability. Avalanche is highly interoperable and can create several subnets atop its Blockchain. That allows different blockchains to share assets and data and interoperate.
• Scalable. Developers created the Avalanche blockchain to deal with the biggest shortcoming of Ethereum, scalability. While other blockchains have tried to address the same issue, they had to trade off decentralization to a certain degree to achieve it. However, with its three-blockchain system, Avalanche can achieve infinite scalability without compromising decentralization.
• User-friendly. The usability of a blockchain tends to be the main concern for many users, and it is the primary factor behind a blockchain's adoption rate. Avalanche is extremely usable due to its user-friendly interface and support for multiple systems. Both traders and developers have an easy time interacting with Avalanche. Also, Avalanche provides a simple platform to those who want to create their own use cases, whether they are private or public.
• Low transaction fees. The transaction fee on Avalanche is far less than on Ethereum. The average cost for swap operations on Avalanche is $0.23, whereas, on Ethereum, the price is $62.00.

Issues With Avalanche

Before rushing in and investing in Avalanche, users must also take note of the concerns that experts and current investors have raised about Avalanche.

There are three main concerns that experts have about the blockchain:

1. Transparency

The biggest concern is the lack of transparency. As previously mentioned, the nature and the location of the Avalanche Foundation are still unknown. It wouldn't have mattered in most cases, but in the case of Avalanche, the foundation holds 10% of the token supply – making it the largest initial recipient of AVAX.

The lack of transparency isn't limited to the foundation's identity as it permeates through Avalanche's tokenomics. The whitepaper doesn't mention any details about initial distribution or vesting, and it is also not familiar with the wallet addresses of the foundation's members.

That doesn't mean that the community hasn't asked about it. However, the avalanche support page is barren when it comes to answering any vesting-related queries.

2. Competition

Avalanche is not the only EVM-leveraging and smart contract-enabled cryptocurrency. It faces fierce competition from the likes of Polkadot, Cronos, EOS, and other tokens that use Ethereum Virtual Machines. When asked about it, Avalanche has admitted that it has not been able to hire many developers over the last year. The lack of professionals will likely impact the promises that Avalanche is meant to deliver.

3. No Clear Mission Statement

Avalanche states that the Blockchain's mission is asset tokenization. It is a novel concept that leverages digital assets such as tokens to fractionalize the ownership of physical assets such as fine arts, property, or jewelry. However, considering that AVAX is showing more interest in NFTs and trending facets than its mission, investors are still uncertain about Avalanche's end goal.

AVAX Price History

Avalanche launched in 2020 as an Initial Coin Offering (ICO), with AVAX tokens sold for either $0.50 or $0.85 based on the vesting period. There was immense demand for the project, leading to the token offering selling out within a few hours. Upon its public launch, AVAX was trading for around $5.32, representing a 525% increase against the higher ICO price. 

The remainder of 2020 was uneventful, but as investors’ eyes turned toward AVAX and the 2021 bull run began, the asset gathered steam, hitting $47.16 by February. The next few months were volatile, with AVAX regularly surging to around $38 before falling toward $25. However, late 2021 was eventful, with AVAX hitting an all-time high of $134.87

Going into 2022, AVAX struggled to maintain its new valuation, falling below $100 and sitting between roughly $70 and $85. However, spurred by the broader market falling, AVAX collapsed in price midway through the year, falling as low as $10.99 by the end of December. 

The majority of 2023 was similar, with AVAX struggling to break above $15. However, in December, the asset climbed alongside Bitcoin, hitting $47.72. Coming into 2024, AVAX showed strength and hit $58.49 in March. However, AVAX has since fallen and trades at around $29.20 today. 

Avalanche Circulating Supply

Avalanche has a fixed maximum supply. While no more tokens can be minted, AVAX is continuously being burned, making it a deflationary asset. The current circulating supply of AVAX is 394,511,177.90, while the maximum supply is 715,748,719.00 AVAX. Around 360 million AVAX was reserved by the Avalanche Foundation to fund development.