The Ultimate Guide to Subnets II: The Current State of Subnets

4 min readOct 23, 2022

As of the writing of this blog post, there have been 18 subnets built on Avalanche, with one being the primary network composed of Avalanche’s C-Chain, P-Chain, and X-Chain.

Beyond the primary network, there are three main subnets which have an active blockchain and validator nodes. The first is also the largest, DFK Chain.

DFK Chain

This subnet hosts the DFK Chain which powers DeFi Kingdoms: Crystalvale, a massive-multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) which heavily integrates DeFi principles and concepts (e.g., NFTs, DEXs, etc.).

Created in March, 2022, there are currently 8 validator nodes and approximately 4,881 daily active addresses. With a market cap of over $26.3 million, this subnet has over 104 million transactions on its chain since its inception.

DFK Subnet’s network token is JEWEL, which players use to pay gas for all transactions. However, due to the nature of subnets and the unique game structure, players can trade AVAX, CRYSTAL, and a variety of other tokens on the DFK Chain. Since its creation, activity on the DFK Chain has steadily increased.

Swimmer Network

The second active subnet is Swimmer Network Subnet, created in May, 2022, and currently using 8 validators. Similar to DFK Subnet, Swimmer Network was created to host GameFi projects while capitalizing on the security and infrastructure provided by Avalanche , as well as taking advantage of web3 principles, such as DeFi concepts, NFTs, and mining. The main game available on Swimmer Network Subnet is Crabada, an idle battle game.

As of the writing of this post, Swimmer Network Subnet’s market cap is $398,884, with over 150,000 total transactions and 2,300 average daily active addresses. The main network token is TUS (Treasure Under Sea) which is used for gas fees, however similar to DFK Chain, there are a variety of tokens available on the chain including CRA and CRAM. While Swimmer Network appeared to reach a peak in activity closely following its release in June, 2022, active addresses and transactions have remained relatively consistent since.

WrapTag

The third active subnet hosting a chain is WrapTag which uses web3 constructs to certify ownership of physical objects. Specifically, WrapTag provides physical Near-field communication tags which contain a WrapTag NFT verifying the authenticity, ownership, and history of the item.

WrapTag Subnet is currently running its chain with 7 validators, allowing users to utilize their native token, POINT, to pay for gas fees to send NFT certificates from one address to another. This allows for the simple, quick, and secure transfer or removal of NFT certificates. Based on Ava Lab’s explorer page, WrapTag is not being tracked as an active chain, however according to AvaScan and WrapTag’s documentation, they are an active subnet and chain.

All three of these subnets contain Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible chains and use the Snowman++ proof-of-stake consensus mechanism.

In addition to these, there are four subnets on Avalanche’s testnet: WAGMI Subnet, Dexalot Subnet, Portal Fantasy Subnet, and Highrise Subnet.

WAGMI Subnet

WAGMI, or We’re All Going to Make It, Subnet, was created in January 2022 by Ava Labs to provide a testing network for EVM optimizations. Following an airdrop of WAGMI’s native token, WGM, which is used for fees, users can take advantage of the subnet for testing and experimentation prior to deploying to mainnet. Since the chain’s creation, over 1,050,697 transactions have been completed.

Dexalot Subnet

Dexalot is a decentralized exchange which has been operating on Avalanche’s C-Chain since 2021, with the testnet subnet created in April, 2022. Since its inception, it has completed 228,205 transactions.

Portal Fantasy Subnet

Portal Fantasy Subnet is a GameFi environment, primarily built to support Portal Fantasy, a portal-quest fantasy game. Created in July, 2022, it has processed over 8,773 transactions.

HighRise Subnet

Highrise Subnet was built in August, 2022 as a GameFi platform which allows users to create their own metaverse, a web3 expansion of a web2 game. Since its inception, it has completed 6 transactions. All of these subnets operate using EVM compatible chains.

If you didn’t get a chance to check out part I of The Ultimate Guide to Subnets series you can check that out here: https://gogopool.medium.com/the-ultimate-guide-to-subnets-i-comparing-subnets-to-cosmos-zones-and-polkadaot-parachains-408ff7bede9c