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If you’ve just started exploring the Avalanche ecosystem, understanding its multi-chain architecture might be pretty confusing. “Why are there so many different chains?” “Why are they needed?” “What chain should I use to BUIDL / swap tokens, etc?”
No worries, you’re not alone with these questions. Today, GetBlock will try to give short, easy, and yet comprehensive answers to them with a great overview of Avalanche’s architecture.
As of Q1 2025, nearly five years since Avalanche launched, the industry has evolved significantly, yet Avalanche remains a leading player. Its approach to scalability and network design has helped it maintain a strong presence in the industry. Here’s the breakdown of things that set Avalanche apart.
What is the Consensus mechanism of Avalanche?
As always, everything starts from Consensus. And here's when things even started to get tricky. Avalanche’s consensus mechanism is kinda similar to Proof of Stake, but it goes far beyond that.
Avalanche’s consensus is based on repeated sub-sampled voting. Therefore, consensus on Avalanche is being achieved not by the opinion of the simple majority or the largest stakeholders’ one, but by a chosen subset of validators (α-majority), who repeatedly agree on a certain option of the network's state. This process requires several rounds of confirmation, yet still happens quickly, even if conflicts occur.
This unique algorithm is called the Snowball Algorithm, and the consensus mechanism is called the Snowman Consensus Protocol. It’s being used by all three blockchains that form the Primary Network of Avalanche (X-chain, P-chain, and C-chain). However, it's not strictly necessary for all the Avalanche L1s to use the Snowman Consensus Protocol.
What are Avalanche L1s? (ex-Subnets)
As you might already know, the Avalanche in a nutshell operates on various networks that work independently and are interoperable at the same time. Any network within the Avalanche multi-chain ecosystem is the so-called L1. To be clear, Avalanche's L1s are only referred to the networks within the ecosystem, not all the Layer 1 blockchains.
Previously, Avalanche used the Subnets model, but after the latest major Ethna upgrade Subnets were sunsetted and changed to L1s, which made custom blockchains within the ecosystem more sovereign and significantly reduced costs for validators.
To become a validator of any L1 you like, you don’t have to validate the whole Primary Network, as it was before. Now, all it takes is to stake a certain amount needed for a specific L1, register as a validator within the P-Chain, and also pay a fee of around 1 to 10 AVAX per month.
One of the key strengths of Avalanche L1s is their flexibility. Developers can customize various aspects of their network, including:
- Tokenomics // Set up economic models and incentives
- Governance // Define rules and decision-making processes
- Native Tokens & Fees // Establish transaction fees and reward structures
- Virtual Machines // Implement existing VMs or create a new one
- Privacy // Enable KYC for restricted access if needed.
Avalanche L1s' scalability and high performance make them perfect for building blockchains for DeFi and GameFi. Some of the most well-known Avalanche L1s are Beam, Blitz, and Dexalot. Now let’s look at the very special L1 that stands in the core of Avalanche - the Primary Network.
What is the Primary Network?
At the heart of Avalanche's multi-chain nature lies another network of networks—the Primary Network.
In "homogeneous" blockchains such as Ethereum, Solana, and many others, all the inner processes commonly take place on one network. This includes on-chain asset management, staking, creating smart contracts, dApps, tokens, and maintaining the whole blockchain architecture. Avalanche achieves this with three networks.
- The Platform Chain (P-Chain)
- The Contract Chain (C-Chain)
- The Exchange Chain (X-Chain)
Each network has a certain role and accomplishes its own tasks. This helps to significantly increase the overall performance and avoid network congestion during the high activity period.
AVAX Network Archtecture scheme from GetBlock
As was stated before, all three parts of the Primary Network implement the Snowman Consensus Protocol. However, they all use different VMs and have different purposes and functionalities. Let’s have a closer look.
What Is C-Chain?
C-Chain (Contract chain) is designed for smart contract creation. This is the network you're gonna be using the most on Avalanche as a developer or a retail user. C-Chain runs on an EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) and supports the creation of all EVM-based contracts, ERC-20 tokens, dApps, etc.
This network also allows you to communicate with dApps. So, in whatever DeFi wallet you’re using, you’d probably see the Avalanche C-Chain.
Used by:
- Developers
- Crypto users
Use Cases:
- Running DeFi applications (DEXs, lending protocols, yield farming)
- Token creation and transferring
- NFT marketplaces and tokenized assets
- Cross-chain assets bridging
- Native Avalanche interoperability
The notable feature of C-Chain is total ordering, which ensures that transactions are processed in a specific sequence. This ensures higher data accuracy and is essential in applications like crypto wallets or blockchain explorers, where transaction order is important.
What Is P-Chain?
The Platform Chain (P-Chain) is a governance and coordination layer of Avalanche. This is the backbone of the Avalanche ecosystem. All the platform-level operations take place on this chain. It manages validators, staking, and all the L1s.
The P-Chain is the metadata blockchain on Avalanche. To become a Validator of the Primary Network, a node has to stake at least 2,000 AVAX on the P-Chain. For all things staking and cross-chain transfers you can use Avalanche native Core Wallet.
Used by:
- Validators
- L1 developers
- Crypto users (for staking)
Use Cases:
- Staking
- Validating the Primary Network
- Rewarding Validators
- Managing L1s (tracking active/inactive and creating new ones)
- Supporting the whole ecosystem’s architecture
- Avalanche Interchain Messaging
You can also create your own Avalanche L1 easily by using the P-Chain API. The P-Chain is based on a special Virtual Machine - the Platform, which makes all the metadata management possible.
What Is X-Chain?
The X-Chain (the Exchange Chain) is the native assets management blockchain on Avalanche. It is quite similar to the Contract chain, although its use cases are quite limited.
X-Chain operates on AvalancheVM, not EVM!
Meaning that it does not support smart contract creation.
The situations where you'd need to use the X-Chain are fairly rare and specific. These days, the X-Chain mostly plays a supporting role within the broader Avalanche architecture, with its specific use cases being less common in day-to-day development or user activity.
Which chain should I use?
Now you are one step closer to becoming an expert in Avalanche's multichain ecosystem. Whether you're planning to build the next big dApp or a new blockchain on Avalanche or use it for DeFi, there’s a network for every specific use case.
Choosing the right chain depends on what you’re doing. The C-chain is the place where ±90% of the Avalanche users exist. If you’re a developer or degen, the C-Chain is your choice for:
- DeFi,
- Bridging assets cross-chain,
- Creating EVM smart contracts,
- Building dApps, tokens, NFTs, and much more
Avalanche is a practical choice for deploying custom chains, offering both speed and flexibility. So, if you are a tech genius willing to build a new L1 on Avalanche, or just want to support the ecosystem, get to the P-Chain for:
- Launching Avalanche L1s
- Staking $AVAX,
- Validating the Primary Network,
- Native signatures to trust cross-chain communication.
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