One-on-One with Avalanche’s Luigi D’Onorio DeMeo

Luigi D’Onorio DeMeo, Chief Operating Officer at Ava Labs, a constituent of the CoinDesk 20 Index, discusses Codebase and his efforts to enable the next generation of Web3 innovators.

Luigi D’Onorio DeMeo, Chief Operating Officer at Ava Labs, a constituent of the CoinDesk 20 Index, discusses Codebase and his efforts to enable the next generation of Web3 innovators.

10 Years of Decentralizing the Future

The interview was conducted by CoinDesk Indices and is not associated with CoinDesk editorial. The views and opinions expressed are those of the author and not associated with CoinDesk. This is not financial advice.

Can you describe your accelerator program, Codebase, and its purpose?

Codebase is a strategic initiative in the broader vision for Ava Labs, a constituent of the CoinDesk 20 Index, to become the leading blockchain platform for startups to launch and scale their companies. We provide these promising Web3 startups with intensive, hands-on support as they launch and/or move their projects to our chain. While similar to the standard accelerator model — weekly workshops, mentor support — we differ in that we do not take equity in participating companies at the beginning of the cohort. Instead, each team receives a $50k grant, with three investments from a $400k prize pool to be awarded at Codebase’s Demo Day, which is judged by five industry heavyweights. Ultimately, the goal of Codebase is to help accelerate the growth of the Avalanche ecosystem. We believe that one of the most effective ways to do this is to find high-potential teams in the space and shower them with resources, which is exactly what we’re doing with Codebase.

Why do you think projects are being built on Avalanche?

We’d like to think we’ve built a better mousetrap, and maybe we have, but objectively speaking, we've developed an advanced platform that sets us apart in the blockchain space, featuring a unique consensus mechanism, subnetworks, and integrated blockchains. Our mission is to digitize global assets on the Avalanche blockchain. Our user-friendly, cost-effective platform is known for its reliability and decentralization. The caliber of companies adopting our blockchain, like Deloitte for disaster relief, Amazon for enterprise, and Lemonade for insurance, speaks volumes about our platform's quality.

What else about Avalanche may set it apart from other blockchains?

I’d point to our subnets as a prime example. Our subnets are a standout feature, offering custom, application-specific blockchains within the Avalanche ecosystem. They allow developers full control over user experience, from fee tokens to network validation and virtual machine operations. Subnets not only benefit from Avalanche's security and speed but also isolate application activity, preventing high traffic from causing network-wide congestion. This efficiency minimizes transaction fees for all users.

What are some key features and functionalities of Avalanche that may attract institutions?

Three key functionalities set us apart in the blockchain space. First, HyperSDK empowers developers to build high-performance Virtual Machines on Avalanche, enabling them to create some of the fastest blockchains globally. Second, Vryx is our initiative to boost Avalanche's transaction speed to approximately 100,000 transactions per second, integrated into the HyperSDK testnet. Lastly, Firewood is our advanced, Rust-based database designed to store blockchain state. Unlike traditional databases, Firewood uses a trie structure as an on-disk index, eliminating the need for compaction and pruning, ensuring efficient state management.

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