The Avalanche network made a significant impact last year. Following that, two major events are set to take place in February 2024. The first event is the activation of the Durango upgrade on a testnet, scheduled for February 13th. The second event is the unlocking of $344.65 million worth of tokens on February 22nd. The token unlock seems to be attracting more attention from investors, as it could impact the circulating supply of AVAX, and thus AVAX holders should closely monitor this process.
The Future of AVAX
The Avalanche Network has shared preliminary code for an upgrade to be executed on the blockchain on February 2nd. The upgrade is set to be active on the Fuji Testnet starting at 11:00 AM on Tuesday, February 13th.
The upcoming Durango upgrade is significant within the AVAX ecosystem due to its focus on enhancing inter-chain communication and improving Avalanche’s scalability.
Following the Avalanche Warp Messaging (AWM) feature, enhancements in on-chain and cross-chain communication will be implemented, laying the groundwork for a connected and flexible network. Users are expected to benefit from the seamless interoperability of protocols on Avalanche.
If there are no complications and the Durango update is successfully deployed on the Fuji Testnet, it could pave the way for a mainnet release in the near future.
AVAX Commentary and Token Unlock Event
On the other hand, Avalanche is set to unlock 9.54 million AVAX tokens worth $344.65 million on February 22nd. The amount of tokens being unlocked corresponds to 2.60% of the current circulating supply of Avalanche.
If the foundation, team, and airdrop recipients who will receive a share of the upcoming airdrop decide to sell their Avalanche assets, the price of AVAX could be negatively affected following the token unlock, potentially leading to a decline.
During the previous token unlock event on November 23rd, the amount released was worth $198.47 million, and a price drop of 9.85% occurred within the four days following the event. If history repeats itself, the token unlock on February 22nd could lead to a similar drop in AVAX price, possibly around 10%.
Although the year 2023 started off poorly for AVAX, it ended with a remarkable surge. Alongside Solana, AVAX was among the year’s top-performing altcoins in its competition against Ethereum.
