Avalanche Surges to Top 10: Outshining MATIC, TRX, and LINK

Updated: 08 December 2023

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In recent weeks, Avalanche (AVAX) has seen a remarkable surge, surpassing several prominent cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin cash (BCH), polygon (MATIC), polkadot (DOT), tron (TRX), and chainlink (LINK). This rapid ascent has catapulted AVAX into the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap, now valued at $9.8 billion, excluding Lido Staked ETH. This achievement marks its highest position for the year.

Avalanche’s rise has been particularly notable when compared to bitcoin (BTC). Among the top 30 cryptocurrencies, AVAX’s performance relative to bitcoin has been outstanding, with a 60% increase over the past three months, only second to Solana’s near doubling. This means that a trader who exchanged BTC for AVAX three months ago would now see a 60% increase in their bitcoin holding, in addition to benefiting from BTC’s own 70% rally against the US dollar.

What is Avalanche?

Debuted in 2020, Avalanche distinguishes itself with its goals of being rapid, flexible, secure, cost-effective, and easily accessible. Moreover, as an open-source initiative, it invites public engagement, allowing anyone to examine and contribute to the development of its codebase.

One of the key features of the Avalanche blockchain is its capacity to achieve rapid transaction finality. The AVAX token is integral to the ecosystem, used for settling transaction fees, maintaining network security, and functioning as a fundamental currency across different blockchains within the Avalanche network.

Avalanche, much like its counterparts Solana, Ethereum, Tron, and Polygon, is a layer-1 blockchain. It supports a variety of applications including stablecoins, DeFi, memecoins, and Ordinals-like inscriptions. But why is Avalanche gaining such favor in the markets? Vivek Raman, head of proof of stake at BitOoda, suggests that the run is part of a broader trend among alternative layer-1 networks. He notes that while major crypto assets like ETH and BTC suffered less in the downturn, altcoins like Avalanche are now catching up. Raman points out that Solana has recovered more than sevenfold from its cycle lows, indicating a similar trend for Avalanche.

Used in High Profile Projects

The technology stack of Avalanche was also recently utilized in Project Guardian, a pilot led by JPMorgan Onyx. This project explored tokenized investment portfolios using a new permissioned version of the Avalanche blockchain. Although the mainnet of Avalanche wasn’t directly used, Raman believes that such initiatives could fundamentally drive the Avalanche ecosystem forward.

In addition, Avalanche talks about many other very promising projects ongoing and coming up in the AVAX ecosystem, such as Avaissance, Evergreen and Teleporter.

The most exciting projects in the @AVAX ecosystem

Avaissance, Evergreen, Firewood, and Teleporter (coming soon). And, crossing over 1 billion total transactions since launch. There’s plenty to be excited about with Avalanche.

Let’s get to it! pic.twitter.com/r2Cogw4Mzj

— Jay Kurahashi-Sofue 🔺 (@jayks) December 5, 2023

Performance-wise, as of now, ether’s performance relative to bitcoin has declined by about one-fiftdh, a contrast to the 20% reduction in BTC value for those who shifted from bitcoin to ether at the beginning of September. This highlights the relative strength of Avalanche’s recent market performance, positioning it as a significant player in the cryptocurrency landscape.