Avalanche is a smart contracts platform that uses a mechanism for verifying and securing blockchain networks. Launched in July 2020, this blockchain technology was co-founded by the CEO of Ava Labs Emin Gün Sirer, an associate professor in computer science. An anonymous research group was the first to publish a white paper outlining the platform’s principles. Sirer and his colleagues, Maofan Yin and Kevin Sekniqi, explored similar possibilities. Ava Labs is the company backing the Avalanche (AVAX) consensus protocol. This protocol distinguishes AVAX from other crypto initiatives. The AVAX products are also partly associated with research co-authored by another professor of computer science, Robbert van Renesse.

The main aim of the consensus protocol is to quickly finalise blockchain transactions from start to finish without significant energy expenditure, centralisation and performance diminishment. Instead of copying the established Bitcoin protocols, Avalanche created new consensus protocols that enable the fast performance of transactions. The platform supports Ethereum and enables millions of block or node productions.