• Avalanche announced the start of the Retro9000 initiative geared towards incentivizing developers to build on its chain.
• Retro9000 is part of Avalanche’s largest upgrade to date, termed Avalanche9000.
• AVAX is up nearly 7% in the past 24 hours as it attempts to reclaim the $30 psychological level.

Avalanche announced the launch of Retro9000 on Thursday as part of its larger Avalanche9000 upgrade. Retro9000 is a program designed to support developers with up to $40 million in grants for building on the Avalanche testnet.

AVAX rises as Avalanche prepares for upgrade

Avalanche announced the commencement of a $40 million retroactive grant program known as Retro9000. This program is part of Avalanche9000, Avalanche’s largest upgrade to date.

Retro9000 is funded by the Avalanche Foundation and dedicated to providing incentives for developers looking to build on the Avalanche9000 testnet.

“The Retro9000 incentivized testnet program attempts to bootstrap an L1 ecosystem and provide the earliest and most engaging developers incentives to build their product,” said Luigi D’Onorio DeMeo, Chief Operating Officer at Ava Labs.

The rewards will be determined via a public leaderboard hosting all the entries. Submissions will be ranked based on community votes, which will also determine the grant allocations.

Avalanche9000 aims to enable businesses to launch projects more quickly and affordably, fostering innovation across various scales.

The initiative will include the Etna Upgrade, ACP-77, and enhanced developer incentives to encourage innovation. Developers will also be able to leverage Interchain Messaging (ICM) for interoperability among L1s, fostering collaboration and scalability.

“The forthcoming upgrade will remove the requirement to validate the Primary Network, massively reducing the cost of deploying and maintaining an L1 blockchain in the Avalanche Network,” said Martin Eckardt, Director of Developer Relations at Ava Labs.

AVAX is up nearly 7% following the announcement. The token has witnessed a remarkable price surge over the past week as it attempts to reclaim the $30 psychological level, last seen on July 24.

AVAX’s price declined in August, dropping below $18 following the crypto market crash and a supply injection of 9.54 million AVAX tokens worth $200 million at the time. The token has been witnessing a comeback since September 7 and looks set to break the $30 level.