Institutional Money is Coming to Avalanche

Last week, Avalanche was added to BitGo, VanEck announced an AVAX-backed fund, and Circle launched USDC on Avalanche.

Institutional Money is Coming to Avalanche
AVAX 7-day growth. Source: CoinMarketCap

Avalanche (AVAX) is a fast, low-fee, Ethereum-compatible Layer-1 blockchain with a $27 billion market cap and $12 billion total value locked (TVL) in its DeFi ecosystem. Last week, Avalanche was added to BitGo, VanEck announced an AVAX-backed fund, and Circle launched USDC on Avalanche.

BitGo, a crypto exchange catering to institutional investors, announced support for AVAX and Avalanche C-chain cryptos. BitGo customers could inject significant liquidity into the Avalanche ecosystem. According to the Defiant, "BitGo has $64B under custody and processes about a fifth of all on-chain Bitcoin transactions by value. It’s keen on providing its well-heeled clients with access to Avalanche’s burgeoning ecosystem via its hot wallet and custodial products."

An Avalanche ETN (similar to an ETF) is coming to several European countries. The fund, offered by European investment firm VanEck, is called VanEck Vectors Avalanche ETN ($VAVA). VanEck says $VAVA offers "direct exposure" to AVAX, is 100% backed by AVAX, and is "tradeable like an ETF."

Circle launched USDC on Avalanche. Circle's US Dollar-pegged stablecoin, USDC, has over $40 billion in circulation.

AVAX 7-day growth in BTC and ETH. Source: CoinGecko
AVAX 7-day growth in BTC and ETH. Source: CoinGecko

Over the last week, the AVAX token's growth has outpaced the market, and AVAX is up ~30% against BTC and ETH.