You already learned what Avalanche is, now let’s start learning about how to use Avalanche to your advantage. Recently, the Avalanche network has experienced huge growth and onboarded lots of new projects and protocols to boost the strength of the ecosystem. The network is powered by the $AVAX token, but there are plenty of products and applications that have their own tokens. These tokens interact with the numerous different products that have been built on the network. To get the most from your $AVAX, use the following tools to their full advantage. All the services below are easily accessible with no entry limits – just make sure you have some $AVAX for gas and off you go.

Wallets

A good wallet is crucial for storing and making best use of your crypto. So here is a list of the best available wallets for Avalanche users. All products in this section are non-custodial and require you to safely store your *Private Key (*Link W/is Pvt/Pub Keys).

MetaMask

Metamask is the most well-known and popular software wallet and browser extension in the crypto world. Well known mostly as the go-to Ethereum wallet, it also allows you to store mainnet $AVAX tokens and seamlessly interact with numerous dApps and DEX’s on the Avalanche network – including Trader Joe. MetaMask is built to be privacy-first. Allowing you to easily access, store, and swap tokens, without having to worry about dApps or exchanges accessing more personal data than you’ve consented to. MetaMask is available on for both iOS and Android users on mobile, while the Desktop Wallet is available for Chrome, Brave, Firefox, and Microsoft Edge browsers.

Coin98 Finance

Although this wallet doesn’t originate from the Avalanche network, this should not stop you from using it to store your $AVAX, and other tokens that live on the C-Chain. The Coin98 wallet has high utility and is used across a range of blockchains, including Ethereum, Solana, BSC and Polygon. Along with MetaMask, it is one of small number of supported wallets for the Trader Joe and Pangolin DEX’s on the Avalanche network. Using this wallet will allow you to bridge tokens between networks and achieve the real DeFi experience.

AMM (Automated Market Makers)/DeFi

AMM’s are an incredible way to earn high returns on your $AVAX tokens. Participating in the DeFi community is an interest-earning opportunity no one should pass up. Take advantage of the following Automated “Money” Makers to effortlessly grow your $AVAX.

Trader Joe

Trader Joe ($JOE) is the one-stop decentralized trading platform powered by the Avalanche network. Users who go to Trader Joe can swap, stake, farm and lend – they can do it all in one place. The platform is super simple to use, and some of the yields you can achieve through farming and staking are very attractive. To help you on your journey, we have even created a How to use Trader Joe Tutorial. This will help you navigate through all the options for maximizing returns with Trader Joe in a way that’s simple and easy to follow.

Pangolin

Pangolin is another DEX which runs on the Avalanche network. It uses the same automated market-making (AMM) model as Uniswap. It has the capability of trading all tokens on both the Ethereum and Avalanche networks. The application allows you to swap, buy (using fiat currency), farm and stake. You earn rewards in the $PNG, the native token of the platform. The range of farms (including super farms) gives opportunities for large APY rewards. Given Pangolin is built on Avalanche, users are able to enjoy low-cost fees, with them often only being a few cents.

Lending, Borrowing, and Other Investment Tools

The majority of DeFi projects on the Avalanche network revolve around lending your $AVAX or other associated tokens and yield farming. Lending and/or borrowing $AVAX or other Avalanche-based tokens can earn you very good rewards. It simply works by you giving some of your tokens to a lending platform (earning rewards on what you lend), and then borrowing additional tokens that you can re-invest elsewhere. The possibilities you have are endless. 

BENQI

BENQI Finance is a DeFi liquidity market protocol, built on the Avalanche blockchain. The protocol is made up of two elements: a liquidity market protocol and a liquid staking protocol. The liquidity market allows users to lend, borrow, and earn interest. Users who lend (provide liquidity) to the protocol may earn passive income, while borrowers are able to borrow in an over-collateralized manner. The liquid staking protocol tokenizes staked AVAX to grant users the ability to utilize their tokens elsewhere. Another great thing there are no lock up periods for staking.

Penguin Finance

Penguin Finance brings yield-farming, staking, and other functionalities to the Avalanche Network – enabling users to pursue various investing strategies. Holders of the $PEFI token are able to yield farm in ‘igloos’ and stake in ‘nests’. Users are incentivized to invest long-term. The $PEFI token is built on a deflationary mechanism so that the value increases over time, and there is a ‘penalty’ of 6% for unstaking $PEFI.