Avalanche’s (AVAX) December upgrade, Avalanche9000, significantly reduced transaction costs, resulting in a 38% increase in daily activity on the network.
Avalanche Blockchain Upgrade Increases Transactions by Lowering Fees by 75%
Since the upgrade went live on Dec. 16, transaction fees, commonly known as gas fees, have dropped by an average of 75%, according to data from Flipside and Bitquery. The number of daily transactions has increased to an average of 354,691, reflecting greater network usage.
Avalanche, a DeFi-focused proof-of-stake blockchain and the fifth-largest smart contract platform by market cap, operates a multi-chain architecture:
- C-Chain – Manages smart contracts
- P-Chain – Manages staking and validator coordination
- X-Chain – Processes asset transfers
The upgrade included seven improvement proposals, and ACP-125 made one of the biggest impacts by reducing the base smart contract fee on C-Chain from 25 nAVAX to just 1nAVAX (one nAVAX is one billionth of an AVAX).
Additionally, the validator fee, previously set at 2,000 AVAX, has been replaced with a monthly subscription model ranging from 1 to 10 AVAX, making it easier for new projects to launch Layer 1 (L1) protocols on Avalanche.
The changes are part of a broader effort to increase affordability and adoption.
Stephen Buttolph, chief protocol architect at Ava Labs, explained in a previous interview that the goal is to reduce costs across the entire Avalanche technology stack, from C-Chain fees to capital requirements for validators.
With cheaper transactions and easier validator entry, the Avalanche network is now positioned as a more competitive and scalable smart contract platform, attracting more activity from both developers and users.
*This is not investment advice.
