Community Update: Pangolin and the Path Forward
Avalaunch is a community-oriented project with one primary directive: help foster and grow the Avalanche ecosystem. While there are a number of complex considerations contained within this seemingly simple mission, at the end of the day, this is what we set out to do, and what orients our vision and direction day-to-day.
To this end, we are excited to announce that Avalaunch will be launching all of our smart contracts on the Avalanche C-Chain, and our token listing and liquidity provision will occur exclusively on the Pangolin AMM. The exact listing date will be announced soon.
After receiving feedback from the community about a few potential launch strategies (namely a dual listing on both Pangolin or Uniswap, or just Uniswap), it became clear that Avalanche exclusivity was not only the strongest path forward, but also the one most in alignment with the values of the project — especially as it relates to our growing future user base. We are strong believers in the immense potential of the Avalanche platform, and existing alongside the expanding list of applications built on the C-Chain is something we are very excited about. We received an incredible amount of support and guidance from the broader Avalanche community on this topic, which only helped reinforce what we already knew: we are building for a passionate, principled group of people eager to help develop something both special and important.
This really is a very unique moment in time, and a rare opportunity for everyone involved. Without our community, there really is no point in Avalaunch. We will always remain open to the input of our users and adjust course accordingly.
From Ethereum to Avalanche
One question that naturally presents itself is, “Why was Uniswap ever considered at all?” For an Avalanche launchpad, launching on Avalanche and listing on Pangolin seems like the obvious choice? Well, long story short, it is. However, our original thinking on the topic is worth highlighting. To summarize, the decision to explore an Ethereum AMM was a downstream result of other architecture choices, rather than a fundamental desire to list there first.
Originally, our Avalaunch sales were going to take place via an Ethereum-based smart contract, the results of which would be signed, sent to Avalanche, and the redemption of native assets would take place on the C-Chain — all from within the Avalaunch application. The intention was to leverage the user activity, liquidity, and familiarity that currently exists within Ethereum, and our application could act as a pseudo-bridge between the two ecosystems. We felt this set-up could help smooth the transition from Ethereum to Avalanche by going to the user, instead of asking the user to come to us. Everyone wins.
While we still think the logic is sound, it did present a few issues, mainly around the XAVA token. The Avalaunch sale allocations are determined by users staking the platform token in our smart contracts, and when these contracts lived on Ethereum, it fragmented the distribution of XAVA in ways that were difficult to manage across both chains. Considerations around the right bridge to use (including one we considered building), being linked to that particular bridge’s representation of the asset on Avalanche, split liquidity, and even a potentially segmented token supply simply became too onerous.
Additionally, it stirred some debate about which trade-offs were best for Avalanche, or if any tradeoff was appropriate at all. These are important conversations, and ones we hope to continue having, but for now, considering that Avalanche as a platform is more than capable of handling our needs, we are best served there. Whatever challenges around users and liquidity we might encounter will be short-lived, if we encounter them at all.
The simplicity of returning to Avalanche represented a solution to all our problems and more. Equally as important, it offers us a clarity of purpose that will aid in guiding our future decision making process as we move into listing, launch and beyond.
Looking Ahead
As an Avalanche native application, we look forward to supporting other builders and teams committed to developing the ecosystem and community. We are currently in the final phases of development, with our smart contracts being prepared for audit. We are aiming for a launch in early to mid-May, with a listing of the XAVA token on Pangolin a few weeks prior. Before a single sale takes place on Avalaunch, the audit will be publicly available, in addition to our code. This level of transparency is important to us.
We have received a lot of interest from teams looking to launch through the platform and have begun conversations with some very strong projects who we are certain will add value to the Avalanche platform. It goes without saying that we believe deeply in this technology and what it will offer the space going forward. We can’t wait to find out what Avalanche looks like in a year, two years, or ten years. When we reach that future, what we will see when we look back is anyone’s guess, but what we do know, for sure, is that we haven’t even begun to glimpse it.
