Avalanche Foundation Funds Six Research Teams in Its First Call for Research Proposals - eGamers.io

The Avalanche Foundation has announced funding for six research teams to tackle fundamental questions in blockchain economics. Over the next year, these teams will investigate how cryptoassets get priced and valued, and how validator economics connect to network security. The Foundation states that these research findings will directly influence how Avalanche is built and governed.

The Foundation emphasizes that Avalanche users have a stake in this research because the projects cover fees, staking rewards, and the costs that Layer 1 networks pay to the Primary Network. The Foundation's own research into measuring, capturing, and distributing value across blockchain economies is already underway, and this program brings independent academic expertise into that effort.

Selection Process

The Foundation received more than 175 research proposals, with approximately 90 advancing to full committee review. The selection committee included prominent figures like Emin Gün Sirer (Founder and CEO of Ava Labs), Matias A. (Chief Investment Officer of the Avalanche Foundation), and academic experts from Duke University, University of Florida, and Columbia University.

Proposals were evaluated based on relevance, concreteness, novelty, methodology, actionability, feasibility, and team strength. Committee members assessed submissions independently without coordination, and recused themselves from proposals where they had prior professional relationships with applicants. The Foundation made the process public to ensure transparency in research funding decisions.

Research Focus Areas

The six selected teams represent institutions including Stanford University, University of Oxford, Imperial College London, and Nanyang Technological University. Their research addresses critical questions about blockchain economics, such as how application revenue contributes to ecosystem value beyond transaction fees, and how staking should factor into token valuation.

One project by Ruizhe Jia from Stanford will investigate whether Layer 1 networks benefit when trading venues or lending markets perform well on them. Another team led by Lin William Cong from Nanyang Technological University will model staking as a feedback loop linking liquidity, network security, and platform productivity.

Professor Cong is involved in three of the six funded proposals, each addressing different research questions independently. The Foundation notes that Cong is one of the most widely cited researchers on tokenomics, with his 2021 paper "Tokenomics: Dynamic Adoption and Valuation" being frequently referenced in this round's proposals.

Next Steps

The Foundation plans to provide regular updates on each proposal's progress and has individually contacted all 170 unsuccessful applicants.

Looking ahead, the Foundation intends to launch the "Economics of Blockchain Roundtable," a video series featuring the funded research teams and selection committee members. These episodes will explore each team's research approach and potential implications for Avalanche's development. Episode dates will be announced in advance, and the Foundation clarifies that awarding grants does not constitute endorsement of any particular findings.