Avalanche Launches $1M Build Games Competition to Drive Developer Innovation

A significant wave of traditional financial institutions has established presence on the Avalanche blockchain network. The list includes: **Banking & Asset Management:** - Major banks: Citi, J.P. Morgan's Kinexys, Woori Bank - Asset managers: BlackRock, VanEck, WisdomTree, Franklin Templeton, Wellington Management, Apollo Global Management - Investment firms: SkyBridge Capital, Cumberland, Inversion Capital **Payment & Technology:** - Payment networks: Visa - Fintech platforms: Grab, Intain, OpenTrade **Tokenization & RWA Platforms:** - Securitize, Republic, Dinari, Ondo, Homium, Balcony, StraitX **Other Notable Participants:** - State of Wyoming (government entity) - Various specialized platforms: ReFi, STIS, Rain, Grove, ParaFi, Nonco, BDACS This institutional adoption follows the recent Ondo Summit in New York, which brought together similar players to discuss tokenization's future. The convergence of traditional finance giants on Avalanche signals growing institutional confidence in blockchain infrastructure for real-world asset tokenization and financial services.

Jason Desimone has acquired and transformed **The Arena** into a leading blockchain social application. The platform operates on **Avalanche**, leveraging its technology, community, and builder support. **Key Points:** - Desimone's acquisition has driven The Arena to new prominence in web3 social - Platform built on Avalanche infrastructure - Focus on community-driven social experiences The Arena represents a growing trend of social applications migrating to blockchain rails, offering users new ways to connect and engage in decentralized environments.

Giga, a long-time Avalanche community member, has been appointed to a judging panel. He recently launched **@bears_salmon**, a gamified startup accelerator on the network. This appointment follows Avalanche's growing startup ecosystem, which includes: - **Codebase incubator** selecting 5 startups for Season 2 from 100+ applications across 20 countries - Selected teams include @thedisgo, @xkovapay, @FinnaHQ, @encryptechAI, and @lucero_labs - Participants receive training in tokenomics, go-to-market strategy, and product development The Bears Salmon accelerator adds another layer to Avalanche's startup support infrastructure.

**Lame Hillbilly**, founder of [Pharaoh Exchange](https://twitter.com/PharaohExchange), has been welcomed to an upcoming panel discussion. Known as a community-first builder in the Avalanche ecosystem, Lame Hillbilly brings both technical expertise and grassroots leadership to the conversation. His approach emphasizes transparency and integrity within the DeFi space. Pharaoh Exchange operates on Avalanche, contributing to the network's growing DeFi infrastructure. The founder's reputation stems from consistent community engagement and hands-on development work. The panel appearance marks another step in Pharaoh Exchange's visibility within the broader Avalanche community.

A $1 million hackathon called the Build Games has revealed its initial group of judges, focusing on experienced native builders in the space. **Key Details:** - First cohort of judges includes @LHBCrypto, @giga_alpha, and @jasonmdesimone - The hackathon features a substantial $1 million prize pool - Judge selection emphasizes native builders with hands-on experience The announcement marks an important milestone as the competition takes shape, with more judge cohorts likely to be revealed in the coming weeks.