PODCAST: Has Avalanche solved the blockchain trilemma?

Key Takeaways

Avalanche is the world’s fifteenth biggest cryptocurrency by market cap
John Nahas, Vice President of Business Development at the firm behind Avalanche, Ava Labs joins the podcast
He chats through launching so recently (2020), the bull and bear markets, attempting to solve the blockchain trilemma, Avalanche’s energy output, tribalism in crypto, regulation and more

The industry of cryptocurrency has not been around a long time. Bitcoin is the grandparent of the space, and yet it only launched thirteen years ago.

But even within this young industry, Avalanche stands out for its youth. Launched in late 2020 as the crypto bull market was beginning to rage, it has swiftly established itself among the top projects. Today, it’s the fifteenth biggest coin by market cap.

On the latest episode of the CoinJournal podcast, I interviewed John Nahas, Vice President of Business Development at Ava Labs, the creator of Avalanche.

We discussed the rollercoaster ride that has been crypto over the last couple of years, and how it was to launch into such an auspicious market environment. Of course, we also then chatted about the recent bear market and how this has been for the project, as well as crypto as a whole.

One thing I enjoyed: pouring cold water on the toxic tribalism that crypto has a soft spot for. I’ve written extensively about this partisan attitude, the “my coin is better than your coin” attitude that crypto has. This maximalism is something that irks John too, as he quickly dispelled the “ETH killer” narrative that has been floated about for Avalanche and other blockchains in the space.

We talked about the technical of Avalanche, and why John believes it has solved the blockchain trilemma. John also touched on the energy side of things, a sort of add-on to the trilemma which has only grown louder in recent years, with certain cryptos coming under pressure for their large energy bills.

We also discussed the grey area that is regulation, and specifically for Avalanche, how staking could be affected. John stressed the recent penalties against Kraken were for failures to properly disclose, rather than against the act of staking itself.

These are just a few of the bigger topics which we covered. If you are interested in Avalanche, feel free to listen.