Avalanche (AVX) price is up more than 10% today following news of the launch of Valkyrie, a leading digital asset manager, and rising interest in Avalanche among institutional investors.
At the time of writing, AVAX was trading at $67.25, up 10.91% after hitting a one-week high of $67.35 and 11.9%th Largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
Announcement of the Valkyrie
On Wednesday, Valkyrie announced the launch of an investment trust dedicated to AVAX. With the announcement, Valkyrie expects more institutional funds to be drawn into the Avalanche blockchain as interest is growing among institutional investors in AVAX following Ethereum’s plan to move through this year.
The trust will allow institutional investors to gain token exposure and invest in AVAX on their behalf without buying directly, however, according to Valkyrie, the trust will only be available to qualified investors.
Furthermore, Valkyrie praised Avalanche as one of the fastest smart contract platforms in the entire blockchain industry.
Impact of the crypto market on AVAX
The broader crypto market is also experiencing significant gains today.
The growth in the entire crypto market was buoyed by investor relief after the US Federal Reserve raised expected rates. The total crypto market capitalization has increased by almost $100 billion in the last 24 hours.
Proof-of-stake network adoption
Interest in proof-of-stake (PoS) tokens such as Avax, ADA and SOL is increasing as Ethereum plans to move to a PoS network. Avalanche, in particular, is seen as a major Ethereum challenger.
Institutional investors seem to have been attracted to PoS tokens as an alternative investment to bitcoin. This is because Proof-of-Stake tokens require less energy, while compared to Proof-of-Work tokens, making it one of the best options for environmentally conscious regulators.
Additionally, digital fund managers such as 21Shares, CoinShare, and Grayscale have also launched PoS-exposed products as demand from their institutional clients continues to grow this year.