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What is Avalanche (AVAX)?
Avalanche is a decentralized, Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible blockchain network launched in September 2020 by Emin Gün Sirer, founder of Ava Labs. The network is powered by a Proof of Stake (Pos) consensus mechanism, and features three integrated blockchains, Exchange Chain (X-Chain), Platform Chain (P-Chain), and Contract Chain (C-Chain). Its native token, AVAX, is used to pay network fees, secure the network through staking, and participate in governance. Because Avalanche is EVM-compatible, developers can deploy Ethereum-based applications on it without rewriting code, and users can interact with Avalanche decentralized apps through wallets like MetaMask. The current Avalanche crypto price is $6.42, with a 24-hour trading volume of $101,100,216.
Avalanche went live on September 21, 2020. Ava Labs raised $42 million through a public token sale held in July 2020, marking the company's first public sale of its digital currency token. The company was founded by Emin Gün Sirer, who spent two decades as a computer science professor at Cornell before moving into crypto full-time, alongside Kevin Sekniqi and Maofan "Ted" Yin—both of whom completed their PhDs under Sirer's supervision. Avalanche's consensus mechanism grew out of a 2018 academic paper that introduced a new approach to agreement through repeated random sampling among validators, achieving finality in under one second.
AVAX at a glance
Token type | Native Layer 1 (fees, staking, governance) |
Blockchain | Avalanche (C-Chain, X-Chain, P-Chain) |
EVM compatible | Yes (C-Chain) |
Consensus | Avalanche consensus (proof-of-stake, random subsampling) |
Launch date | September 21, 2020 |
Founded by | Emin Gün Sirer, Kevin Sekniqi, Maofan "Ted" Yin (Ava Labs) |
Max supply | 720,000,000 AVAX (hard cap) |
Genesis supply | 360,000,000 AVAX |
Fee mechanism | 100% of base fees burned |
Current price | $6.42 |
Market cap | $2,770,917,379 |
All-time high | $144.96 |
24h volume | $101,100,216 |
Active Avalanche L1s | 62 Mainnet L1s as of August 2026 |
Staking minimum (validator) | 2,000 AVAX |
Staking minimum (delegator) | 25 AVAX |
Regulatory status | Digital commodity (SEC/CFTC, March 2026) |
| Today (August 14, 2026) | $6.42 | -0.10% |
|---|---|---|
| 24 hours ago (August 13, 2026) | $6.43 | -0.10% |
| 1 week ago (August 7, 2026) | $6.40 | +0.30% |
| 1 month ago (July 15, 2026) | $6.72 | -4.50% |
| 1 year ago (August 14, 2025) | $23.69 | -72.90% |
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Buy, sell, trade, and swap AVAX on MetaMask, crypto's most trusted wallet.
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