Since its mainnet launch in 2020, Avalanche has emerged as a notable contender to Ethereum, the largest smart contract-focused blockchain. Avalanche network, with its native cryptocurrency AVAX, aims to directly tackle Ethereum’s biggest weaknesses — speed and scalability. Using AVAX, it takes less than two seconds to finalize transactions, compared to 6 minutes on <a href="https://coin360.com/coin/ethereum-eth">ETH </a>and 60 minutes on <a href="https://coin360.com/coin/bitcoin-btc">BTC</a>. It also has a higher transaction throughput — handling around 6,500 transactions per second (TPS) compared to 15-20 TPS on Ethereum.&nbsp;Launched by the New York-based Ava Labs, the Avalanche network contains three individual blockchains — the Exchange Chain (X-Chain)&nbsp; which enables the creation and trading of the native token AVAX and other cryptocurrencies, the Contract Chain (C-Chain) which hosts the decentralized applications ecosystem, and the Platform Chain (P-Chain) which coordinates between network validators.&nbsp;<h2 dir="ltr">AVAX price&nbsp;</h2>According to our AVAX USD live price chart, AVAX coin saw its first major spike at the start of 2021, when it went from around $3 on Jan. 1 to over $60 by Feb. 10, 2021. That 1,900%+ rally also marked a new all-time high for AVAX, but was soon followed by an 84% drop.However, the price of AVAX rose again when market sentiment flipped bullish in September, and Avalanche network's native coin went on to set a new all-time high of $147 in November 2021 — marking another 1,400% gain from mid-year lows, and achieving a market cap of more than $30 billion.While market woes that followed saw AVAX price drop in line with the broader risk-off sentiment, Avalanche’s DeFi ecosystem remained healthy, with the total value locked (TVL) in Avalanche's DeFi protocols ranging around the $10 billion mark throughout Q1, 2022. That being said, AVAX is far from being an "Ethereum killer", as it is often termed.Future movements and AVAX price predictions depend primarily on how successfully Avalanche manages to capture market share from Ethereum and other competitors, such as <a href="https://coin360.com/coin/solana-sol">Solana (SOL)</a>, <a href="https://coin360.com/coin/polkadot-dot">Polkadot (DOT)</a> and <a href="https://coin360.com/coin/cardano-ada">Cardano (ADA)</a> etc.<h2 dir="ltr">How AVAX works</h2>Like Ethereum, AVAX coin is used to pay for transaction fees on the Avalanche network. However, in the case of Ethereum, the transaction fee is partly burned and partly used to reward miners, while on Avalanche, the entire transaction fee is burned. AVAX holders can also stake their tokens, either individually or in a pool, to become network validators.&nbsp;&nbsp;The total supply of AVAX is capped at 720 million and the X-Chain, where the tokens are traded, uses the Avalanche consensus mechanism. In this mechanism, all nodes process and validate transactions simultaneously and random polling of validators ensures that the transactions are correct.Avalanche also supports what are known as subnets, which can host independent blockchains, all of which can have customized parameters, including their consensus mechanisms and access permissions.<h2 dir="ltr">AVAX news, updates and highlights</h2>Avalanche has been very active in terms of partnerships and growth initiatives. In 2021, Avalanche struck deals with payments giant <a href="https://www.mastercard.com/news/perspectives/2022/ava-labs-avalanche-smart-contract/">MasterCard</a>, and audit, tax, and consulting firm <a href="https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/about-deloitte/articles/press-releases/deloitte-ava-labs-blockchain-state-local-government-natural-disaster-recovery.html">Deloitte</a>. In August 2021, AVAX launched a <a href="https://www.theblockcrypto.com/post/114782/avalanche-launches-180-million-defi-incentive-scheme-aave-curve">$180 million DeFi incentive program</a> called ‘Avalanche Rush’ that attracted DeFi leading protocols <a href="https://coin360.com/coin/aave-aave">Aave (AAVE)</a> and <a href="https://coin360.com/coin/curve-dao-token-crv">Curve (CRV)</a>.&nbsp;A month later, the blockchain <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/09/16/avalanche-raises-230-million-from-private-sale-of-avax-tokens/">raised $230 million</a> from the private sale of its AVAX tokens to crypto funds, and within two months, Avalanche launched a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/ninabambysheva/2021/11/01/avalanche-launches-220-million-crypto-growth-fund-targeting-defi-and-nfts/?sh=1bb2d9ba50e1">$220 million growth fund</a> targeting DeFi and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).&nbsp;At the Avalanche Summit in March 2022, Ava Labs' product head Nick Mussallem <a href="https://www.coindesk.com/tech/2022/03/22/avalanche-announces-new-core-wallet-bitcoin-bridge-at-avax-summit/">announced</a> two major updates for the network — a native wallet called ‘Core’ and a bridge to the Bitcoin network. Both updates aim to boost Avalanche’s DeFi ecosystem.&nbsp;<h2 dir="ltr">Frequently asked questions about AVAX</h2><ul><li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">Can you mine or stake AVAX?</li></ul>Since Avalanche follows its own consensus mechanism, which is similar to proof-of-stake, AVAX coins cannot be mined. However, AVAX coin holders can stake their tokens to become network validators and receive rewards in AVAX tokens. Users need to stake at least 2,000 AVAX tokens to become validators, or pool their tokens with others and share the rewards.&nbsp;<ul><li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">What are some of the best AVAX wallets?</li></ul>AVAX can be stored in the Avalanche web wallet, AVAX chain configured on MetaMask, and Trust Wallet, as well as hardware wallets like Ledger and Trezor, among others.&nbsp;<ul><li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">What can you do with AVAX?</li></ul>You can use AVAX tokens to pay for transactions on the Avalanche network, trade them against other cryptocurrencies like BTC or ETH, stake them for rewards or hold them for governance rights.<ul><li dir="ltr" aria-level="1">How to buy AVAX?</li></ul>You can buy AVAX by exchanging your BTC, ETH, or USDT tokens with AVAX on exchanges like HitBTC or buy it using fiat currency on exchanges like Nexo.&nbsp;

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