The Avalanche Snow Report: February 2025

Welcome to The Avalanche Snow Report! This monthly newsletter brings you highlights from across the Avalanche ecosystem, including DeFi, Enterprise & Institutional, NFTs & Culture, Gaming, and Infrastructure & Enablement.

Have feedback or want to learn more? Please contact brian.leiberman@avalabs.org.

Network Highlights

Retro9000 Snapshot Date is April 15th

The first Retro9000 grant snapshot hits April 15, 2025, at 12:00 UTC.

If you’re building Avalanche L1s or infra, now’s your chance to qualify for funding. Projects must be testnet/live, approved, visible on the site, and receiving votes.

Don’t miss this round—review the full criteria here.

Learn more here.

Avalanche Octane Pre-Release

Avalanche Octane is here—a major upgrade series focused on boosting C-Chain performance.

The first release, activating March 13 on Fuji Testnet, introduces dynamic gas limits and smarter fee mechanics via ACP-176. It’s all about smoother price discovery and better handling during high demand.

Get the full upgrade details and validator notes here.

DeFi

Vertex Exchange Live on Avalanche

Vertex, the popular spot and perpetuals decentralized exchange, has arrived on Avalanche. Vertex features unified liquidity across multiple ecosystems, making trades more efficient with minimal fees. Their platform is lightning fast in terms of execution and allows for cross-margining.

Learn more here.

DeUSD Staking Arrives

deUSD is the first synthetic dollar bringing institutional RWAs from issuers like Securitize into the Avalanche DeFi ecosystem. Both deUSD and staked deUSD can be deployed into Avalanche DeFi protocols to provide extra utility.

Learn more here.

Enterprise & Institutions

Robert Rodriquez Film Financing Launch

Legendary director Robert Rodriguez (“Spy Kids,” “Sin City”) is launching Brass Knuckle Films with Republic—raising funds for a slate of action films, tokenized on Avalanche. Fans can invest, pitch film ideas, and gain exclusive access to set visits, screenings, and more. A bold new model for indie film is here.

Learn more here.

Avalanche Chosen as One of Six Chains for Wyoming Stable Token Launch

The Wyoming Stable Token Commission has announced plans to launch WYST, the first fiat-backed stable token issued by a U.S. state.

WYST will be deployed on Avalanche and six other chains via LayerZero.

Learn more here.

The Dantewada District of Chhattisgarh, India, Has Digitized All 700K of Its Land Records on Avalanche

Powered by Zupple’s LegitDoc, this blockchain-based system is already live, with kiosks set up across the district for citizens and officials to easily access tamper-proof land data—bringing unprecedented transparency, accessibility, and security to public infrastructure.

Learn more here.

Gaming

Game Informer Acquired by Gunzilla

Gunzilla Games, the creators of “Off the Grid”, have acquired the recently shuttered Game Informer news organization. The group announced that they have rehired all previous staff and Game Informer will maintain complete journalistic independence. The firm also aims to bring back the physical print publication as well. The move breathes life into a brand that has covered gaming for 33 years.

Learn more here.

Beam Nodes Go Live

Beam has announced that its Nodes are now live, allowing users to claim Node Tokens and participate in securing the network. The now fully permissionless Beam L1 enables anyone to validate or delegate using Beam Node Tokens and BEAM. Through Beam’s newly-unveiled delegation dashboard, users can stake to earn rewards and manage stakes across multiple validators.

Learn more here.

Avalanche Team1

Team 1 Awards $10k Grant to Yellow Cat DAO

Team1 Supports Yellow Cat DAO with their first community ‘Builder Mini Grant’ of $10,000. Moving forward, Team1 will support more developers, builders, and projects that bring opportunity, utility, and energy to Avalanche.

Learn more here.

Infrastructure & Enablement

AvaCloud Unveils eERC: Revolutionizing Blockchain Privacy with Encrypted Confidential Transfers

AvaCloud launches a new privacy token standard, eERC, for secure, private transactions with full auditability - ushering in a new era of blockchain privacy solutions.

Learn more here.

Uplink App Launches on Avalanche

Uplink, the first DePIN Layer 1 built on Avalanche, just launched and it’s scaling fast. Over 150K routers registered globally in just two weeks.

Turn your Wi-Fi into a decentralized node in minutes, earn rewards, and help power affordable internet—especially in underserved regions like LATAM.

Decentralized connectivity is live. Download the app on iOS or Android and join the movement:

Learn more here.

ICYMI: Avalanche Sessions