Ava Labs

Ava Labs makes it simple to deploy high-performance solutions for Web3- led by innovations on Avalanche. The company was founded by Cornell computer scientists who partnered with Wall Street veterans and early Web3 leaders to execute a promising vision for redefining the way people build and use open permissionless networks. 

Ava Labs was founded by Turkish-American computer scientist and software engineer Emin Gün Sirer whose research over the last twenty years has focused primarily on network security- operating and distributed systems- and digital currencies. He is also acclaimed for his research on the scale and centralisation of cryptocurrencies and leading protocols for on-chain and off-chain scaling.

Back in 2003 he designed the first cryptocurrency based on a proof-of-work protocol- Karma- preceding Bitcoin by six years.  For fourteen years, Sirer was an associate professor of computer science at Cornell University and co-director of the Initiative for Cryptocurrencies and Smart Contracts at the university. While at Cornell, Sirer and and doctoral students Maofan "Ted" Yin and Kevin Sekniqi developed Ava Labs and incubated the Avalanche network - a smart contract- layer-1 platform compatible with Ethereum. It is focused on transaction speed, low costs and eco-friendliness. Sirer's team worked to tackle issues of security- decentralisation and speed in the single blockchain network. 

In 2020 the Avalanche consensus protocol became open-source and the network issued its native token AVAX used to secure the network- pay for fees and provide a basic unit of account across the Avalanche eco-system. Per Cornell Chronicle- Avalanche "raised $42 million in less than five hours during the first public sale of its digital currency token- held July 15." That year Ava Labs launched its Developer Accelerator Program to grow community engagement. The reward-based program offers participants opportunities to win AVA tokens.

"The release of the AVA codebase concludes the first phase of research and development for AVA while also demonstrating the commitment to its open-source and decentralized community… The AVA platform has coupled this protocol with a revolutionary network model that enables the system to span permissioned and permission-less networks.. making AVA the first and only true self-serve platform for new blockchains and digital assets…" AVA LabsCEO Emin Gün Sirer told Enterprise Times.

In 2021 The Avalanche Foundation launched a new fund dedicated to the development of the Avalanche blockchain's ecosystem. Called "Blizzard" the fund is composed of contributions from Ava Labs- The Avalanche Foundation- and investors in Avalanche's latest $230 million capital raise. Per Forbes: "Due to its cash and token holdings… the fund's value will fluctuate but is currently worth about $220 million according to John Wu- president of Ava Labs… The new fund builds on top of Avalanche's $180 million DeFi incentive program "Avalanche Rush" announced on August 18. Since then the total number of transactions on the network has gone up from a little over 4 million to 18.5 million- according to analytics tool Avalanche Explorer and Avalanche's AVAX token has tripled in price—from $21 to $63." 

In January 2023 Avalanche collaborated with Amazon Web Services. "Looking forward web3 and blockchain is inevitable" Howard Wright- VP and global head of startups at AWS- told TechCrunch. "No one can call the time or date or quarter that it's going to happen and it'll be mainstream but we've seen the cycles of growth before. The velocity of this one seems like it's accelerating and we're just excited to be a part of this." The collaborations will make it easier for individuals to launch and manage nodes on Avalanche while also giving the network developers more strength and flexibility.

Ava Labs' growth trajectory continues to surge upward. Per Forbes: “Over the past year, more than 500 decentralized finance apps have been built on Avalanche which can process 4,500 transactions per second… Funding: $6 million from Andreessen Horowitz, Polychain, Initialized Capital and others. Bona fides: Over 2.4 million users. Avalanche's token AVAX has an $8.5 billion market capitalization.” Meanwhile Founder and CEO Sire continues working to make Avalanche a fierce competitor to Ethereum. His vision for blockchain to achieve both high performance and eco-friendliness will remain Ava Labs' guiding principle for achieving mass adoption.

Ava Labs- founded by Emin Gün Sirer- is driven by a visionary goal to revolutionize the blockchain and cryptocurrency space. Sirer's envisions creating the Avalanche network- a smart contract layer-1 platform compatible with Ethereum. The platform prioritises transaction speed, cost-effectiveness and eco-friendliness.. aiming to provide blockchain technology tailored for the financial sector.

Ava Labs' commitment to blockchain innovation is underscored by its development of the Avalanche consensus protocol and the issuance of its native token- AVAX. Furthermore Ava Labs has made significant strides in fostering cross-chain interoperability and building a thriving ecosystem with over 500 decentralized apps and notable projects. Emin Gün Sirer's vision for Avalanche is to position it as a formidable competitor to Ethereum, combining high performance with environmental sustainability, ultimately striving for mass adoption.

Ava Labs offers a portfolio of products and services centered around the Avalanche blockchain ecosystem- a smart contract layer-1 platform designed for the financial sector to alleviate transaction speed- cost-effectiveness and environmental sustainability. Ava Labs issued AVAX as the native cryptocurrency within the network. This open-source blockchain platform provides developers with the tools and infrastructure needed to build decentralized applications and services. The platform's compatibility with Ethereum opens up opportunities for developers to migrate or build cross-chain solutions. Additionally Ava Labs has facilitated the creation of NFT marketplaces on Avalanche.