The Retro9000 C-Chain Round is Live. Earn Rewards for Real Activity on Avalanche.
The Retro9000 C-Chain Round is Live. Earn Rewards for Real Activity on Avalanche.
Mar 6, 2026 / By Avalanche Foundation / 2 Minute Read
The Retro9000 C-Chain Round 1 is officially live and the leaderboard has started. It is time to build.
Retro9000, the Avalanche Foundation's up to $40M retroactive grant program, has launched its C-Chain Round. This round is focused on one thing: rewarding builders who generate real, measurable activity on the Avalanche C-Chain.
Applications are open now at .
How It Works
Every transaction on the Avalanche C-Chain burns AVAX. That burn is a transparent, on-chain signal of genuine usage. The C-Chain Round uses that signal to rank projects and distribute rewards.
The more your application is used, the more AVAX it burns. The more AVAX it burns, the higher you rank on the public Retro9000 leaderboard. The top 40 projects at the end of each round are eligible for rewards from the $40M pool.
There are no subjective criteria. No committees deciding what counts. Just verifiable on-chain activity driving your position.
The Leaderboard is Live
The public leaderboard is live and updating in real time at . You can track where projects rank, how activity is accumulating, and where the competition stands at any point during the round.
A Boost for New Projects
New projects joining the Avalanche C-Chain ecosystem receive a 1.5x points multiplier, giving them a meaningful boost in the early rankings. Additional multipliers may be introduced throughout the round to recognise innovation across specific verticals, including DeFi, Gaming, Culture, SocialFi, Infrastructure, and Payments.
If you are building something new on Avalanche, now is the time to apply.
Refer Projects. Earn Rewards.
The Retro9000 referral program enables the broader Avalanche community to participate directly in growing the ecosystem.
Refer a project that gets accepted into the program and earn $100 in AVAX. If that project goes on to receive funding, you can earn up to $3,000 in AVAX per project, per round.
Getting started is straightforward:
Know a team that should be building on Avalanche? Now you have a direct reason to reach out.
Apply Now
If you are building on the Avalanche C-Chain, this round is built for you. Ship real products, generate real usage, and earn retroactive rewards based on the activity you drive.
(Disclaimer: Retro9000 grants are distributed by the Avalanche Foundation based on verified on-chain activity. Rewards are not investment returns and carry no financial guarantees).
