What Is a Subnet?
Jay Kurahashi-Sofue avatar
Written by Jay Kurahashi-Sofue
Updated over a week ago

Avalanche® features 3 built-in blockchains: Exchange Chain (X-Chain), Platform Chain (P-Chain), and Contract Chain (C-Chain). All 3 blockchains are validated and secured by the Primary Network. The Primary Network is a special Subnet, and all members of all custom Subnets must also be a member of the Primary Network by staking at least 2,000 AVAX.

Image adapted from the following article.

A Subnet, or Subnetwork, is a dynamic set of validators working together to achieve consensus on the state of a set of blockchains. Each blockchain is validated by exactly one Subnet. A Subnet can validate many blockchains. A node may be a member of many Subnets.

A Subnet manages its own membership, and it may require that its constituent validators have certain properties. This is very useful, and we explore its ramifications in more depth below.

Avalanche’s Subnet architecture makes regulatory compliance management. As mentioned above, a Subnet may require validators to meet a set of requirements.

Some examples of requirements include:

  • Validators must be located in a given country

  • Validators must pass a KYC/AML checks

  • Validators must hold a certain license

(To be abundantly clear, the above examples are just that: examples. These requirements do not apply to the Avalanche Primary Network.)

You can create a Subnet where only certain pre-defined validators may join and create a private Subnet where the contents of the blockchains would be visible only to those validators. This is ideal for organizations interested in keeping their information private.

In a heterogeneous network of blockchains, some validators will not want to validate certain blockchains because they simply have no interest in those blockchains. The Subnet model allows validators to only concern themselves with blockchains that they care about. This reduces the burden on validators.

Application-Specific Requirements

Different blockchain-based applications may require validators to have certain properties. Suppose there is an application that requires large amounts of RAM or CPU power. A Subnet could require that validators meet certain hardware requirements so that the application doesn’t suffer from low performance due to slow validators.


For any additional questions, please view our other knowledge base articles or contact a support team member via the chat button. Examples are for illustrative purposes only.

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