what's Retro9000?
Retro9000 is a retroactive grant initiative by the Avalanche Foundation designed to incentivize developers building on the Avalanche blockchain. Launched in November 2024, it allocates up to $40 million in funding, including $2 million for community referrals, to reward projects that launch Layer 1 (L1) blockchains or develop essential infrastructure and tooling. Participants build on the Avalanche9000 testnet, demonstrate impact on mainnet, and receive funding based on community votes and on-chain metrics like transactions, users, and validators. The program operates through periodic snapshots to evaluate eligible projects, fostering a merit-based ecosystem where builders are compensated for real contributions rather than upfront grants. It emphasizes interoperability via Avalanche's Layer 0 framework and consensus mechanism, enabling high-throughput, customizable L1s. Community involvement is key, with over 1.3 million voters in early rounds casting billions of votes to prioritize high-impact developments.
Retro9000 secured $3M for L1, won Gamescom & EU awards, and 93.6% community stayed bridged.
Links
x.com/avalanchefdnJoined Google for Startups and NVIDIA Inception programs for business scaling and technical support.
Raised $3M strategic round led by Avalanche Foundation and Borderless Capital to build custom L1.
Won Game Tech Start-Up of the Year at Gamescom, beating over 350 projects.
Received EU Commission's Seal of Excellence.
93.6% of community chose to stay bridged to YOM instead of taking buyout option.
Offers a rewards multiplier during C-Chain round for teams submitting to Build Games, which begins 2026-03-02; TGE set for 2026-03-25.
Retro9000 Snapshot occurs on October 14.
New snapshot scheduled for July 15 at 12PM UTC, focusing on Avalanche L1s and infrastructure projects.
Initial snapshot scheduled in 3 days, marking start of new distribution phase.
Grant allocation snapshot scheduled for April 15th, 2025 at 12:00 UTC, limited to eligible L1 and infrastructure projects.