Why The Avalanche Multiverse is Accelerating and Taking Over Web3.0
In case you’re unfamiliar, Avalanche is a blockchain platform that’s become Ethereum’s unofficial competitor. It’s sort of like Superman to Ethereum’s Batman.
While Avalanche isn’t quite as mainstream as Ethereum yet, it’s insanely fast, has cheaper gas fees, and is even eco-friendly. Plenty of people already argue that it solves all the things that kind of suck about Ethereum. Case in point? NFTs.
Sick of obscene ETH gas fees standing in the way of launching your cat to internet stardom every time you go to mint its portrait into an NFT?
Avalanche can turn Fluffy into an NFT masterpiece in seconds and for less than a cent. Much like other blockchains, Avalanche has also already created its own digital token called AVAX.
In fact, Avalanche is currently the fastest smart contracts platform in blockchain history and it hasn’t been shy about advertising its own assets.
Indeed, it does appear to have the potential to become a place where entire virtual ecosystems can thrive under one united blockchain umbrella. Now it’s looking for a few good ecosystems to join the party.
All About the Subnets
That’s where the Avalanche Foundation’s new incentive comes in. Dubbed Avalanche Multiverse, the incentive will be backed by 4 million AVAX tokens, which works out to roughly $290 million USD.
The cash is set to fuel the adoption of Avalanche’s “subnets,” which are basically app-specific blockchain ecosystems. Think of them as individual states and cities that all fly under the national Avalanche banner.
In order to claim their own subnet, aspiring project developers stake AVAX tokens to create their own blockchains, which are then secured by validators.
One of the perks for potential developers is that, to some extent, each subnet has the ability to do its own thing. Each will be able to specify its own validators and members, as well as what tokens it will use, gas fees, etc.
Supporters argue that this is a huge step forward by allowing an infinite number of different strategies to be used on the same network. If a game developer, an NFT developer, and a guy with an idea for an institutional use platform all walked into a bar, they could all theoretically bond over beers and visions of using Avalanche to bring their ideas to reality.
On the other hand, there are a number haters out there still engaged in active hating. Some argue that “subnets are little more than glorified sidechains with some fancy marketing.” Are they though? It may or may not be worth noting that the majority of said haters also just so happen to be Ethereum fans.
The Goal of Avalanche Multiverse
Incentives like Avalanche Multiverse are kind of like virtual versions of America’s Homestead Act of 1862. Back in the day, America was still a young country that had acquired a massive amount of land. Initially, though, that didn’t mean much, because nobody actually lived on it.
So the government started offering generous perks to bold pioneers who would go forth and turn the untamed lands into towns and cities. This is more or less where Avalanche is at the moment.
They’ve developed what has the potential to be a huge Web3.0 universe with an infinite number of subnets just begging to be turned into cool ecosystems. Now they’re in search of metaphorical pioneers whose projects they can support with generous sums of crypto.
DeFi Kingdoms and GameFi Subnets
Avalanche has done this kind of thing before with similar initiatives like Avalanche Rush, which focused on DeFi digital assets and apps.
With Avalanche Multiverse, the focus is on the acceleration of things like blockchain-based games, NFTs, and apps that can actually be used by financial institutions without attracting the wrath of regulators. The Multiverse program will roll out in six phases so that more participants can declare themselves ready to jump aboard as time rolls on.
DeFi Kingdoms will be the first to cash in on $15 million worth of the incentive funds by launching its own subnet. It’s a massively multiplayer online role-playing game, aka MMORPG, based in an old-school pixelated fantasy world.
Once you connect your crypto wallet to DeFi Kingdoms, you can roam around doing all kinds of blockchain-based things. There’s a market where you can buy or sell NFTs or add to liquidity pools, a garden where you can stake tokens, and a jeweler where you can deposit or withdraw crypto anytime.
DeFi Kingdom’s Executive Director, who is delightfully known as Frisky Fox, had this to say, “We began looking very early on for technology that could help us scale and introduce new features like using our native tokens for gas fees, without sacrificing security or decentralization. Avalanche’s revolutionary subnet technology is the perfect fit.”
Frisky indeed.
Got a program you think could be Multiverse-worthy? Apply to participate in the program here or take this test subnet for a spin.
Sources
https://medium.com/avalancheavax/avalanche-foundation-launches-multiverse-an-up-to-290m-incentive-program-to-accelerate-growth-of-c815ac5692c7
https://ava-labs-inc.metabaseapp.com/public/dashboard/15e33581-113a-4671-87f9-766d98e8d4e9#refresh=60
https://avalancheavax.typeform.com/to/AHipnhBh
https://thedefiant.io/avalanche-subnets-gamefi-nfts/
https://defikingdoms.com/
https://docs.avax.network/
