What is Avalanche C-Chain

Avalanche C-Chain is the app-oriented part of the Avalanche ecosystem. C-Chain is the answer to Ethereum scaling. C-Chain can carry an estimated 4,500 transactions per second, and can scale to infinity with subnets or private networks.

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The main function of C-Chain is to be the smart contract blockchain, compatible with the Ethereum Virtual Machine. The name is short for Contract Chain, to differentiate from Exchange Chain (X-Chain) and Protocol Chain (P-Chain), which have more specialized uses. 

A smart contract is an automated tool to perform a series of operations. Avalanche uses the Solidity programming language, meaning almost all projects created on Ethereum can also be deployed to Avalanche. C-Chain is open to all developers aiming to create an accessible distributed app (dApp).

C-Chain uses the Avalanche consensus, which coordinates nodes through a random sampling. With this protocol, adding nodes does not slow down consensus as much, while ensuring it is extremely improbable to have a malicious transaction. 

All Avalanche creators can create smart contracts at the core of their apps, and also make them compatible with the Ethereum network. This feature is essential for so-called bridge smart contracts, which move assets from one blockchain to the other. C-Chain can facilitate the movement of dollar-fixed stablecoins between networks, as well as other types of tokens and items. 

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C-Chain is Accessible

The main advantage of C-Chain is that it can be accessed using MetaMask, the most common browser extension wallet. From the user side, the experience of C-Chain is faster and cheaper than Ethereum. Using only C-Chain through MetaMask wallet also simplifies the task of connecting to games. 

C-Chain is also accessible through the native Avalanche wallet, which carries all three chains. With this wallet, advanced users can trade AVAX or stake it for passive rewards. But for the purposes of play-to-earn games and NFT trading, C-Chain works as the basic tool with no confusion between networks. 

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AVAX Needed for C-Chain Usage

When buying AVAX from an exchange such as Binance, using the C-Chain is a must. C-Chain tokens are not immediately compatible with other networks, so sending the tokens to X-Chain or P-Chain directly from an exchange may lead to losses.

AVAX is the native token that works on C-Chain and the specialized Avalanche blockchains. It is used to pay gas fees and as a base currency in trading pairs. AVAX is one of the most liquid tokens, with a relatively high market price. To start with C-Chain, some AVAX tokens must be held in the MetaMask wallet to pay for transactions. 

C-Chain can carry non-fungible tokens (NFT), AVAX, other game native tokens, versions of Ethereum dApps and games.