Avalanche hits 1 million monthly active users for the first time

Avalanche, a Layer 1 blockchain network, has crossed 1 million monthly active users for the first time.

The recent launch of AvaCloud is the main reason for the growth, according to Ava Labs, the creator of Avalanche. AvaCloud is a no-code platform for launching "custom blockchains," also known as subnets, on top of the Avalanche network.

With subnets, developers can build customizable blockchains and specialized decentralized applications. "Before AvaCloud, building your own blockchain could cost millions of dollars and years of research with an experienced team. Today, you can launch your own chain as a testnet in minutes, and deploy a fully mature network in weeks, all without hiring an extensive engineering team," Emin Gun Sirer, founder and CEO of Ava Labs, said last week.

He added that launching a subnet via AvaCloud "should be as easy as spinning up a new website" and will help developers "onboard the next wave of users."

Several projects have committed to building subnets via AvaCloud, including Korean conglomerate SK Group, gaming app Blitz, and AAA game studio Shrapnel, Ava Labs said.

"The consistent growth in Avalanche users reflects momentum the network is generating from a string of partnerships announced in 2023, from AWS through Avalanche Evergreen," John Nahas, VP of business development at Ava Labs, told The Block. "We’ve had a steady stream of innovative new dApps launches, the number of Subnets is continually increasing, with more on the way."

Avalanche adoption

The main Avalanche network has also seen growth in adoption recently. Circle, the issuer of the second-largest stablecoin USDC, announced recently that its euro-backed stablecoin EUROC is now natively available on Avalanche — marking its first foray into multichain expansion. Also this month, the cloud division of Chinese tech behemoth Alibaba built a launchpad for businesses to deploy metaverse spaces on the Avalanche blockchain.

Launched in September 2020, Avalanche is currently the seventh largest blockchain network with a total value locked or TVL of around $700 million, according to DeFiLlama data. Ethereum remains the largest network with nearly $27 billion TVL. For comparison, Ethereum, which was launched in 2015, currently has over 12 million monthly active addresses, according to The Block's Data Dashboard.