Ava Labs is heading into 2025 with a confidence that stands out in a crypto market still dominated by short-lived narratives and hype-driven cycles.
While many projects rush to align themselves with whatever trend is popular at the moment, Avalanche appears to be sticking to a longer-term strategy — one that its leadership says is finally starting to pay off.
That approach was discussed by John Nahas, chief business officer at Ava Labs, in an interview with TheStreet Roundtable's Jackson Hinkle, where he spoke about Avalanche's growing footprint across traditional finance, global brands, and enterprise operators.
Asked what is driving the network's expansion this year, Nahas pointed to Avalanche's underlying architecture and its focus on building blockchains designed for specific use cases, rather than chasing short-term momentum.
"If you hyper-focus on the crypto narratives that are on crypto Twitter, or these things that come and go for three or four months, you're always playing catch-up," Nahas said. "Where we've been successful is in the medium to long term. Things that are worth doing take time."
Avalanche's bet on sovereign, purpose-built blockchains
Avalanche, which regularly ranks among the top 15 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, is leaning into a broader thesis that crypto's next phase will be built around sovereign, purpose-built layer-1 blockchains , rather than a single chain trying to do everything.
According to Nahas, much of the industry is still operating on what he described as a "first-generation business plan," based on the assumption that all activity will eventually settle on one network.
"We don't need more block space. We don't need more blockchains," he said. "But we do need more blockchains that are purpose-built, because that's how the real world works."
When asked about what is driving their rapid expansion in 2025, especially as the project continues announcing partnerships with major traditional finance players , global brands, and enterprise operators, he pointed to their unique technology and blockchain setup as reasons for their growth.
"If you hyper focus on the crypto narratives that are on (crypto twitter), or these things that come and go for three or four months, you are always playing catch up or chasing," Nahas said. "Where we have been very successful is in the medium to long term. Things that are worth doing take time."
Related: Popular Bitcoin company receives Nasdaq delisting notice
Enterprise adoption begins to scale
Avalanche is leaning into a thesis that the rise of sovereign layer one ecosystems is where crypto needs to move to. Nahas argues the industry is stuck in a "first generation business plan" that still assumes everything will eventually live on a single chain.
"We do not need more block space. We do not need more blockchains," he said. "But we do need more blockchains that are purpose built because the world is built that way."
That vision is already visible in Avalanche's enterprise roster. "Banks want their own environment. Asset managers want their own environment. Enterprises want their own environment," he explained. Toyota for example is building four distinct Avalanche chains each designed for a different workflow. FIFA and SMBC in Japan are also building their own independent environments.
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The goal is not an ecosystem that is isolated but one that is highly connected. Nahas noted that Avalanche supports private permissioned, public permissionless, and hybrid chains that can all interoperate. "Effectively, you are giving people solutions rather than giving them a solution in search of a problem," he said.
Related: How Avalanche layer 1s are bringing Wall Street on-chain
The growth is accelerating.
"We are getting close to about eighty Avalanche layer ones now with over one hundred on testnet," he revealed. By next year he expects around two hundred institutional and enterprise chains operating across finance identity artificial intelligence and government.
This story was originally published by TheStreet on Dec 17, 2025, where it first appeared in the Innovation section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
