Avalanche was launched by Ava Labs, founded by Cornell University professor Emin Gün Sirer, and Cornell University computer science PhD's Kevin Sekniqi and Maofan Yin. Avalanche is a layer one blockchain that functions as a platform for DAPPS and custom blockchain networks. It is one of Ethereum's rivals, aiming to unseat Ethereum as the most popular blockchain for smart contracts. It aims to do so by having a higher transaction output of up to 6,500 transactions per second while not compromising scalability. This is made possible by Avalanche's unique architecture.

The Avalanche network consists of three individual blockchains: the X-Chain, C-Chain and P-Chain. Each chain has a distinct purpose, which is radically different from the approach Bitcoin and Ethereum use, namely having all nodes validate all transactions. Avalanche blockchains even use different consensus mechanisms based on their use cases. It starts with a non-BFT protocol called Slush and progressively build up to Snowflake BFT and Snowball to add confidence, all based on the same common majority-based metastable voting mechanism. After its mainnet launch in 2020, Avalanche has worked on developing its own ecosystem of DApps and DeFi. Different Ethereum-based projects such as SushiSwap and TrueUSD have integrated with Avalanche. Furthermore, the platform is constantly working on improving interoperability between its own ecosystem and Ethereum, like through the development of bridges.