Avalanche Unveils Major Update to Simplify Blockchain Development

Avalanche has unveiled the "Avalanche9,000" testnet, a significant upgrade aimed at lowering the cost and enhancing accessibility for Layer 1 blockchain development.

This initiative, launched by the Avalanche Foundation, includes a substantial financial incentive, offering $40 million in retroactive grants to developers and an additional $2 million for referrals to encourage greater adoption of the network. The testnet went live today and sets the stage for its integration into the Avalanche mainnet (C-Chain) in 2025.

According to Stephen Buttolph, Chief Protocol Architect at Ava Labs, the goal of this update is to make every aspect of the Avalanche ecosystem more affordable. Key changes include a reduction in C-Chain transaction fees and the elimination of capital requirements for Layer 1 validators.

One of the central upgrades in the Avalanche9,000 rollout is the Etna Upgrade, which introduces rule modifications for validators and rebrands Avalanche subnets as “Avalanche L1s.” Two key components of this update, ACP-77 and ACP-125, focus on cost reduction and improved interoperability.

ACP-77 will implement a new governance structure for validators to support low-cost, natively interoperable blockchains, while ACP-125 will drastically lower the base transaction fee on C-Chain from 25 nAVAX to just 1 nAVAX.

Although these reductions are relatively small on a per-transaction basis, they are expected to have a significant impact over time, making it more affordable for developers to deploy and maintain applications on Avalanche.