With so many projects already on the Avalanche blockchain network, and many more on the horizon, the AVAX NFT market has never looked this good. At the heart of the market is the blockchain’s native cryptocurrency, the AVAX coin. The AVAX price is currently around $87 USD (1), but that is obviously subject to change as the markets for crypto tokens are notoriously volatile. Despite this volatility, the value of AVAX has been steadily rising and Coinbase now shows the market capitalization of Avalanche to now be a huge $21.5 billion (2). 

One of the aspects that set the Avalanche blockchain apart from the other, more established blockchain companies is that it relies on a model called proof-of-stake, rather than the more popular proof-of-work models that are the basis for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. The problem with proof-of-work is that it is not energy-efficient, it is costly, and it is slower. Enter proof-of-stake, the more sustainable, affordable, and timely way to verify transactions on the blockchain. 

Central to this proof-of-stake model is a concept in cryptocurrency known as staking. When you stake a cryptocurrency, you are basically freezing your crypto holdings with the objective of obtaining rewards or earning interest. This is very similar to what you do when you open a savings account at a bank and place a certain amount of money there to earn interest. In effect, you are staking your local fiat currency. 

With AVAX staking (3), nodes can become validators or delegators and each has specific minimum amounts of AVAX that must be staked for a specific amount of time. Validators secure Avalanche and process transactions on the network. They are given rewards based on the amount of time they are online and responsive. The more time, the more likely they are to receive rewards. A delegator, on the other hand, is a token holder who is interested in staking their currency but wants to do so through an existing validator instead of becoming a validator themselves. In other words, they want to delegate their staking to another node. Through this process, transactions on the blockchain are secured and maintained in a speedy and efficient manner.

Best AVAX NFT Marketplace

Determining the best AVAX NFT marketplace will depend upon what you are seeking. A simple google search will tell you that one of the most established, easy-to-use NFT marketplaces is NFTrade 94). On NFTrade, you can purchase, sell, and exchange NFTs from a wide variety of blockchain platforms including Avalanche. Consequently, NFTrade is definitely where to buy AVAX NFT. NFTrade supports not only the exchange of NFTs, but as easy as uploading a YouTube video or a picture on Instagram, you can create your own NFTs. Of course, NFTrade is not the only exchange of its kind and there are other NFT marketplaces where you can buy AVAX NFTs. 

One of the reasons you might want to buy AVAX NFTs is due to the fact that you know how well the AVAX blockchain network has been performing in the markets. A simple check of AVAX CoinMarketCap demonstrates that it has been experiencing a great deal of growth and is on 717,224 watchlists (5)! This is because investors have realized the tremendous power and potential of the Avalanche blockchain for a variety of utilities. You can also use CoinMarketCap as an NFT marketplace to buy and sell your own virtual collectibles and NFTs. 

AVAX NFT Projects

There are many different kinds of AVAX NFT projects from games to decentralized finance (DeFi) apps and from enterprise to government projects. These can all be easily seen thanks to the AVAX Ecosystem website (6). AVAX projects that focus specifically on AVAX NFTs include games like Chikn, as well as exchanges like YetiSwap. Here, you will also find some of the best AVAX projects, like Topps NFTs where you can trade the digital versions of some of the popular MLB cards. 

As already mentioned, the AVAX ecosystem also has many AVAX DeFi projects. For example, Aave is a DeFi project built on the AVAX blockchain that provides a liquidity protocol for earning interest on deposits and borrowing assets. Essentially, projects like Aave fill the one missing link in decentralized finance, borrowing. Many people focus on payment processing software and the transaction speeds of various platforms, but in order for the idea of completely decentralized finance to continue to grow, the ability to lend and earn interest needs to be established. Projects like Aave are helping to close this gap and provide a useful service and they are doing it with the power of the Avalanche blockchain. 

AVAX NFT Drops

An AVAX NFT drop is the announcement and release of a particular non-fungible token. When collecting NFTs, it helps to keep an eye on these drops because you can get in first and sometimes acquire a valuable token for a bargain, before the price has a chance to rise as the demand increases. You could even look into an NFT drop tracker that serves this very purpose. An NFT drop tracker offers a calendar that you can use to keep track of what NFTs are dropping when.

One of these AVAX NFT drops occurred in September of 2021 when Husky announced the release of their own Husky AVAX NFT. Husky is a company that offers a unique combination of real-life merchandise and apparel connected with unique NFT collections. Husky artists from all over the world create their NFTs and other assets which are all built on the Avalanche blockchain. The team has big goals, one of which is to start being a source of NFT-based music projects, another of which is to grow into a community of supported artists and a place for new artists to enter the NFT universe. They also have ambitions to, in the future, offer owners of their NFTs the opportunity to wear and display them within the metaverse. 

AVAX Ecosystem

As we’ve covered, there is a large collection of projects that have been built on the Avalanche blockchain network. Collectively, these projects are known as the AVAX ecosystem. Many of these projects have their own cryptocurrencies which can be considered AVAX ecosystem coins. CoinMarketCap lists the top Avalanche Ecosystem tokens by market capitalization (7). Some of these tokens were built specifically for the AVAX blockchain, and others have been integrated into the AVAX ecosystem. One example of the former is the token for the Pangolin exchange. The pangolin exchange is a decentralized cryptocurrency exchange that is built on the Avalanche blockchain. 

As an example of the latter, the Tether token is a “stablecoin” that has been integrated. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that are designed to have their value tied to a specific, external, value. With the example of Tether, the token is designed to have its value tied to the U.S. dollar. Some of these tokens are for finance projects and others are in-game tokens. Looking at this list of the top Avalanche Ecosystem tokens, it is easy to see the wide variety of projects that are compatible with the Avalanche blockchain. 

Where To Buy AVAX

If you have researched the many fundamental selling points of the Avalanche blockchain network and have decided to start investing in it by purchasing AVAX, you may be wondering where to buy AVAX. Fortunately, the answer is simple as AVAX can be purchased at any of the easy-to-find crypto exchanges. However, buying crypto tokens is not as simple as just ordering books from an online store. The first step will be to decide what exchange you want to buy AVAX from. This decision can depend on a variety of factors such as the security of the exchange and whether or not you want to support a decentralized crypto exchange or not. One example of a secure, centrally-owned crypto exchange is Coinbase (8). An example of a popular decentralized crypto exchange is Uniswap (9). 

Once you’ve locked in your crypto exchange, all you’ll need to do is set up your account with your chosen exchange. You will probably need to verify your ID and share proof of address in order to make your account. After that, you’ll add a payment method which can be in a variety of forms from a bank account to a debit card. Then, you’ll just need to hop onto the exchange, search for AVAX, and make your trades. After you’ve purchased AVAX, you’ll be able to use those tokens to purchase AVAX NFTs at the appropriate marketplaces. 

First NFT On AVAX

According to the calendar provided by CryptoDappers, the first NFT on AVAX was AVAXPunks in March of 2021 (10). NFTs like AVAXPunks can be easily purchased on an AVAX NFT market. You can also trade these tokens using an NFT trading platform such as the one we’ve already described NFTrade. Speaking of marketplaces, in April of 2021, Avalanche announced that the first NFT marketplace built specifically for the Avalanche blockchain was going online (11). The platform is called Unifty and allows creators to mint, buy, sell, and trade NFTs with near-instant finality (12). Since then, the Avalanche blockchain has continued to grow with many more NFTs being added as more projects continue to enter the ecosystem. 

Works Cited

(1) https://www.coinbase.com/price/avalanche
(2) https://www.coinbase.com/
(3) https://docs.avax.network/learn/platform-overview/staking/#:~:text=When%20a%20validator%20is%20done,during%20the%20time%20it%20validates.
(4) https://nftrade.com/
(5) https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/avalanche/
(6) https://ecosystem.avax.network/
(7) https://coinmarketcap.com/view/avalanche-ecosystem/
(8) https://www.coinbase.com/
(9) https://uniswap.org/
(10) https://www.crypto-dappers.art/timeline
(11) https://twitter.com/avalancheavax/status/1387029626468323336?lang=en
(12) https://www.unifty.com/