Avalanche is a blockchain that was widely overlooked in 2022 despite a few landmark NFT collections that hit it big at the end of the summer. Even with this lack of recognition, the blockchain has still made noticeable advancements for web3 with its latest partnership between Venly and Shopify, giving online customers new avenues to purchase NFTs on the Avalanche blockchain. 

Venly on shopify

The Venly app in Shopify will allow merchants to implement NFT minting and sales on a user’s store which is broadcasted to the Avalanche blockchain. This will allow merchants to access web3 services and provide products to customers that evolve over time with improved NFT utilities that relate to the merchant’s store. 

Originally, NFTs on the Avalanche blockchain had to be bought using the Joepegs marketplace which has many notable collections including Smol Joes, Wolfi Land, and Party Animals. With the addition of Venly to Shopify’s platform, this collection can quickly expand with new businesses being able to create additional products for customers. 

Strong start to NFTs in 2023

Regardless of the overall opinion of NFTs, the market for NFTs has slightly changed since the beginning of the new year with many collections starting to see upticks in trade volume and floor prices. 

Although the FTX crash in November caused a massive panic among all communities in crypto, the release of Donald Trump’s NFT collection and the odd success of $BONK have caused a surge of renewed interest in the platform, generating increased volume over the last 2 weeks. This has led many to speculate if crypto is coming out of its extended bear market which is in desperate need of revival since it originally came crashing down in May 2022.

Banff 5 update

To compliment Venly’s new addition to the Shopify experience, Avalanche also released the Banff 5 update on December 22nd which has a staggering number of improvements to the blockchain which has made the network more efficient for users.

One of the biggest upgrades to the network is its new Avalanche Warp Messaging which allows users to send messages across subnets which is a huge benefit for interoperability on the network because it will allow users on the entire network to communicate with each other more efficiently including the ability to sign activity on the blockchain with their keys regardless of which subnet is being used. 

Bridges will also be in less demand on the Avalanche blockchain because of the expanded interoperability that comes with Banff 5. With less need to swap and transfer cryptocurrencies and switch to different subnets, users will have a more holistic network; but a bigger benefit is how the network will become safer. 

Bridges are often considered one of the most vulnerable aspects of using cryptocurrency because they provide hackers with an easy, single point of access to the target. By mitigating the need for bridges, Avalanche is not only improving communication between subnets but also creating a more secure environment for users.