The Avalanche Snow Report: August 2024

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 megan.moran@avalabs.org.

Network Highlights

Coming Soon! Avalanche Summit LATAM 🇦🇷

Secure your spot! Avalanche’s highly anticipated event is taking place this fall, from Wednesday, October 16 through Friday, October 18, at Ciudad Cultural Konex in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Get involved: Secure your spot at the event, book your hotel using a trusted partner, and peruse the session catalog to learn about concepts covered by expert speakers and sponsors.

Hope to see you there!

Franklin Templeton Launches Tokenized Money Market Fund BENJI on Avalanche

Franklin Templeton, a global investment firm with $1.6T AUM, has expanded its L1 blockchain footprint to Avalanche.

The Franklin Templeton OnChain U.S. Government Money Fund (FOBXX) is the first and only U.S.-registered mutual fund to leverage a public blockchain as the system of record to process transactions and record share ownership. One share of the $420 million Fund is represented by one BENJI token – holders can gain exposure to the Fund through the Benji Investments app.

Learn more here.

DeFi

Agora Launches Its Digital Dollar, AUSD on Avalanche

Born from the belief that money should be neutral, AUSD’s open stablecoin model incentivizes businesses to contribute to and service Avalanche, and share in the economic benefits of the network’s growth and adoption.

With $20M+ AUSD minted, Agora launched with critical ecosystem infrastructure, including BENQI, Trader Joe, Trensi, and others.

Learn more here.

Goldlink Joins GMX on Avalanche

Goldlink, an on-chain leveraged prime broker, is maximizing transparency for lenders and borrowers on Avalanche by creating one-on-one relationships between strategies and lenders.

The goal: 1) Enable borrowers to execute a wide range of high-yield, on-chain trading strategies, and 2) enhance capital efficiency through leverage with individual strategy lending pools.

Discover Goldlink.

Enterprise & Institutions

Loyalty Platform TYB Joins Forces With Urban Outfitters

Urban Outfitters (UO), a retail company known for its unique blend of fashion, lifestyle, and home products, has partnered with the on-chain loyalty platform TYB to offer its young, trend-conscious audience a new blockchain-based customer rewards program.

UO joins other leading brands, including Glossier, Rare Beauty, and The Outset, that have leveraged TYB and received significant value in return.

TYB has seen tremendous ROI over the last few months, with average TYB users purchasing products more frequently than non-TYB members. On average, customers participating in TYB-backed rewards programs have spent 10.2% more and have a 26% higher all-time order frequency compared to their non-member counterparts.

Explore the community here.

Neal Stephenson’s Lamina 1 Teams Up With Weta Workshop

Amongst the rapid growth of their Avalanche L1, the Lamina 1 team announced a partnership with Wētā Workshop, known for their work on The Lord of the Rings, to launch a worldbuilding project, "Artefact."

Serving as Lamina1’s flagship, the project showcases how digital worlds can be built collaboratively. It aims to create a blueprint for intellectual property (IP) development while blending blockchain technology with community-driven storytelling. Creators are encouraged to expand on themes from Stephenson’s work and explore the lore behind "Artefacts" by engaging with Stephenson and Wētā through the open IP platform.

Learn more here.

STC Bahrain Launches ‘Intersect the Network’

STC Bahrain has taken a major step in advancing Web3 innovation and digital transformation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region by launching ‘Intersect the Network,’ an initiative that provides tools, dApps, and infrastructure to users and organizations transitioning into Web3.

To celebrate the launch, they collaborated with Avalanche, STC Bahrain, and others to host a 30-day virtual Makeathon & Hackathon, which started on August 12th. The event features coding and non-coding tracks, rewarding developers and artists who build innovative solutions and designs.

Learn more here.

Tixbase and Passo Secure the Largest Blockchain Ticketing Deal to Date

Innovative blockchain-based ticketing platform Tixbase is setting out to transform its industry in partnership with Passo, Turkey’s leading event ticketing company, by launching a new, custom-built Avalanche L1, TixChain.

The L1 is tailored to fit their specific needs, including GDPR and data privacy law compliance, and will integrate the tech into Passo’s network to ensure each ticket is uniquely verified and tamper-proof.

Passo’s platform now handles over 25M tickets every year, pioneering Turkish ticketing as the official ticketing company for numerous prestigious events like the Turkish National Team, UEFA Champions League, Europa League, and many concerts, festivals, and other sporting events.

Learn more here.

Gaming

Playstation 5 Becomes a Gateway to Blockchain

Gunzilla’s Off the Grid is a AAA battle royale-style shooter built on a customized Avalanche L1 that immerses players in a 60-hour narrative campaign. It boasts a mind-blowing number of high-fidelity, fully customizable weapons and sports an unrivaled level of detail, thanks to 3D scanning technology.

What happens when a game like Off the Grid is in such high-demand that Sony takes notice? It becomes the first blockchain game to launch a closed playtest on PlayStation 5 (PS5), resulting in nearly 400,000 transactions from over 30,000 players over its first weekend.

Check it out here.

MapleStoryU Announces the Tokenomics of Its Avalanche L1

The Nexon Group’s MapleStory Universe, an Avalanche-powered revitalization of the renowned MMORPG Maplestory, recently announced the tokenomics behind their custom L1.

Every item in the game will be created and owned by players, putting ownership of one of the most legendary gaming IPs in players’ hands. Alongside the announcement, MapleStory Universe released an adorable comic book that explains their focus on user generated content (UGC).

Read it here.

Avalanche Ambassadors

150+ Developer Students In India Learning How To Launch Their Own L1

Alongside Chainlink, the Ambassador DAO hosted a workshop at the Indian Institute of Technology in Kharagpur.

Learn more here.

Ethereum Bolivia Buildathon

The Ambassadors hosted workshops at the Ethereum Bolivia buildathon, introducing developers to Avalanche, with 17 of the 24 participating teams deciding to launch contracts on the network.

Learn more here.

Avalanche Meet Up at the University Of Nigeria 🇳🇬

The Ambassadors hosted a meetup at the Enugu campus, introducing the blockchain club and students to Avalanche.

Learn more here.

Infrastructure & Enablement

Unlocking Avalanche L1s with ACP-77

A research report from The Block uncovers how ACP-77 redesigns the relationship between validators and Avalanche L1s.

How? ACP-77 makes regulatory compliance easy to implement for enterprise L1s, and retail-focused L1s can benefit from a more decentralized validator set.

Learn more here.

Codebase Season 2 Is Here!

The Avalanche incubation program is back for a second season.

Selected startups will participate in a ten-week intensive program to help transform ambitious builders into extraordinary founders, with a final pitch day prize pool of up to $1M!

Learn more here.

ICYMI: Avalanche Sessions