The price of AVAX, the token underpinning the Avalanche platform, has skyrocketed by 37.7% in the past 24 hours following the announcement of “Avalanche Rush,” a $180 million liquidity mining incentive program for blue-chip decentralized finance (DeFi) applications.
Avalanche, the project created by Cornell University computer science professor Emin Gün Sirer, is often touted as an “Ethereum killer” and is building a high-performance blockchain platform that offers a scalable and secure environment for creating decentralized applications (dApps).
It’s already making strides in the DeFi space, having incorporated several important solutions, including the Avalanche-Ethereum bridge and the integration of SushiSwap, one of the largest decentralized exchanges (DEX).
The project’s continued push into DeFi has helped the token too.
Hitting a three-month high too, AVAX has enjoyed a 100% increase in value over the last week, which makes it one of the top gainers in the market.
Ava Labs, an open-source platform in the decentralized finance (DeFi) space, is launching Avalanche, a fully featured mainnet for DeFi applications and blockchain developments. The launch is scheduled for September 21, 2020.
DeFi refers to financial applications built on blockchain technology. The space has been growing at speed within the crypto industry, peaking at just under $10 billion in total value this month. However, this growth has been marred with intense pressure on the Ethereum net...
With a market cap of $5.8 billion, AVAX is currently the 27th largest cryptocurrency. At press time, the token traded hands at $31.39, according to CoinGecko.
What is ‘Avalanche Rush?’
The “Avalanche Rush” initiative is intended to bring more applications and assets to the platform’s DeFi ecosystem.
DeFi is a suite of financial services that resemble those on offer at traditional banks or investment firms. But instead of centralized entities, DeFi replaces brick-and-mortar institutions with lines of code and so-called “smart contracts.”
Initially, Aave and Curve, the two of the largest DeFi protocols with almost $25 billion in combined total value locked (TVL), will be launched on the Avalanche network.
The Avalanche Foundation has allocated up to $20 million AVAX for Aave users and $7 million AVAX for Curve users, with additional allocations to be announced in the coming months.
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