What is cryptocurrency? A beginner's guide to crypto
The world of cryptocurrency and digital assets can be overwhelming when you're first introduced. We cover all the basics to get you started with crypto.
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The live AVAX price is currently {{current_price}}, {{up_down_24h}} {{price_change_percentage_24h_in_currency}} in the last 24-hours. Avalanche's 24-hour trading volume is {{total_volume}}. Avalanche is currently {{market_cap_rank}} by market capitalization, which is calculated by multiplying the current price ({{current_price}}) with the circulating supply ({{circulating_supply}}). The market capitalization for Avalanche is {{market_cap}}. AVAX has a circulating supply of {{circulating_supply}} and a max supply of {{max_supply}}. To buy AVAX at the current rate, visit moonpay/buy/avax.
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Avalanche is a decentralized, open-source Proof of Stake blockchain with full smart contract functionality. AVAX is the native cryptocurrency of the blockchain.
Avalanche was created by Ava Labs, a team of experienced entrepreneurs and engineers. The team includes Emin Gün Sirer, a computer science professor at Cornell University, and Kevin Sekniqi, a former software engineer at Google.
Avalanche is designed to be a scalable, secure, and energy-efficient blockchain and platform for decentralized applications (dApps). It can process up to 6,500 transactions per second and has a transaction time-to-finality of less than one second. The Avalanche protocol is also designed to be environmentally friendly, using significantly less energy than other blockchain platforms.
AVAX is the native token used to pay for transaction fees on the Avalanche network. It can also be staked to secure the network and earn rewards.
AVAX was launched in September 2020 and traded for around $3 for most of the year. It attracted a lot of attention from investors, which drove up the price of Avalanche and market cap of AVAX.
AVAX saw a significant increase in price in 2021, reaching an all-time high of $146.22 per coin on November 21, 2021. The AVAX price increase was driven by a number of factors, including the growing popularity of decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), as well as the launch of a number of new projects on the Avalanche blockchain.
AVAX price has been declining since November 2021. It fell to a low of about $59 in January 2022 and has continued to decline since then. By the end of the year, the Avalanche price was hovering around the $11 mark.
AVAX started the year by increasing from about $11 to several peaks around $20, before declining steadily to hover back around $11. Towards the end of the year, AVAX rebounded along with the majority of the cryptocurrency market, peaking at around $48.33 on Christmas Day.
Avalanche is an EVM-compatible programmable smart contracts platform that enables interoperability between different blockchains while offering a high degree of customizability. It allows blockchains to communicate and transfer assets or data seamlessly.
With its EVM compatibility, developers can easily port their existing Avalanche applications to Avalanche without rewriting the code. The Avalanche network consists of three chains: the Exchange chain (X-Chain) for asset exchange, the Platform chain (P-Chain) for smart contracts, and the Contract chain (C-Chain) for transaction execution.
Avalanche utilizes the Avalanche consensus mechanism, which combines elements of classical consensus (Byzantine Fault Tolerance) and the Nakamoto consensus mechanism (Proof of Work). This leaderless approach operates through multiple subnets, allowing them to achieve consensus on specific sets of transactions and form a global consensus. Avalanche can process up to 4,500 transactions per second with sub-second finality, making it well-suited for high-speed applications such as decentralized exchanges (DEXs).
The founders of Avalanche (AVAX) are Emin Gün Sirer, a computer science professor at Cornell University and the CEO of Ava Labs, Kevin Sekniqi, a former software engineer at Google and the CTO of Ava Labs, and Ted Yin, a former Ph.D. student at Cornell University and the CPO of Ava Labs.
Emin Gün Sirer is a Turkish-American computer scientist who has been involved in the cryptocurrency space since the early days.
Kevin Sekniqi is a software engineer with experience in building distributed systems. He has worked on a variety of projects, including the Linux kernel and the Hadoop distributed file system.
Ted Yin is a computer scientist with experience in cryptography and blockchain technology. He has worked on a variety of projects, including the HotStuff consensus protocol, which is used in the Facebook Libra project.
Avalanche serves as a versatile blockchain platform with several key use cases. It provides a powerful infrastructure for decentralized applications (dApps), offering high throughput and low latency for activities like decentralized exchanges (DEXs), lending platforms, custom blockchain networks, and stablecoins. Additionally, the Avalanche ecosystem enables asset tokenization, allowing for the creation and transfer of digital representations of real-world and digital assets anywhere.
Another crucial aspect of Avalanche is its focus on blockchain interoperability. It bridges the gap between different blockchains, facilitating seamless communication and asset/data transfer between decentralized applications. This addresses the issue of fragmentation within the blockchain ecosystem and enables users to leverage the benefits of multiple blockchains.
Further, Avalanche supports custom blockchain development, empowering developers to create tailored blockchains with specific parameters for transaction speeds and functionality. With its scalability, the Avalanche blockchain is well-suited for building popular games that require real-time interactions and fast transaction processing.
What makes Avalanche unique is its emphasis on interoperability, customizability, and scalability. Through this, the Avalanche network aims to be the glue for Web3, addressing the fragmentation of the blockchain space and empowering developers to shape the future of blockchain by creating their own incentivized blockchains and decentralized applications.
You can stake your AVAX tokens but not mine them.
There are two main ways to participate in the Avalanche network: validator staking and delegator staking.
Validator Staking: To become a validator, you need to hold a certain amount of AVAX tokens as a stake and run a validator node. By staking your tokens and actively participating in the consensus process, you contribute to block validation and network security. In return, validators receive staking rewards based on their stake and performance. However, becoming a validator typically requires technical expertise and a significant stake of AVAX.
Delegator Staking: If you don't have the technical knowledge or the required stake to become a validator, you can still participate in staking by delegating your AVAX tokens to a validator. Delegators select a validator they trust and delegate their tokens to that validator's node. Delegators also receive a portion of the staking rewards earned by the validator, proportional to the amount of tokens they have delegated. Delegator staking provides an opportunity for token holders to passively earn rewards without running their own node.
The price of {{token_name}} is determined by factors such as supply and demand, market sentiment, regulatory developments, and the adoption of blockchain technology. Price fluctuations can also occur in response to large transfers of the asset in a short time period.
The all-time high of Avalanche (AVAX) is $146.22, which was reached on November 21, 2021.
The all-time low of Avalanche (AVAX) is $2.79, which was reached on December 31, 2020.
There will only ever be 720 million AVAX tokens, to ensure that the network remains decentralized and secure. Over {{circulating_supply}} AVAX tokens are currently in circulation.---The remaining AVAX tokens will be released over time in the form of staking rewards.
You can buy Avalanche directly via MoonPay or through one of our many partner wallets, such as Trust Wallet and Exodus.
MoonPay’s simple widget makes it easy to buy AVAX with a credit or debit card, bank transfer, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and more payment methods.
MoonPay makes it easy to sell Avalanche when you decide it's time to cash out your crypto.
Simply enter the amount of Avalanche (AVAX) you'd like to sell in the MoonPay widget and enter the details where you want to receive your funds.