Avalanche® is an open-source platform for launching decentralized finance applications and enterprise blockchain deployments in one interoperable, highly scalable ecosystem. Avalanche uses Proof-of-Stake, which allows tens of thousands of validators to have a first-hand say in the system while consuming minimal energy.

Avalanche is powered by the Avalanche consensus protocol; for specific use-cases on Avalanche, the platform is made to be totally-ordered and linear; this totally-ordered protocol is known as the Snowman consensus protocol.

Avalanche was designed to be customizable, scalable, and interoperable. Everything on Avalanche is an L1, and every chain is part of a L1. Validators are required to be a member of the Primary Network; all other L1s are optional. The Primary Network contains three blockchains:

Learn more about the Avalanche System here and also the following article about the Avalanche Consensus.

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.