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What Is a Subnet?

A Subnet is a sovereign network which defines its own rules regarding its membership and token economics. It is composed of a dynamic subset of Avalanche validators working together to achieve consensus on the state of one or more blockchains. Each blockchain is validated by exactly one Subnet, while a Subnet can validate many blockchains.

Avalanche's Primary Network is a special Subnet running three blockchains:

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Every validator in a Subnet must also validate the Primary Network.

Node operators that validate a Subnet with multiple chains do not need to run multiple machines for validation. For example, the Primary Network is a Subnet with three coexisting chains, all of which can be validated by a single node, or a single machine.

Advantages​

Independent Networks​

  • Subnets use virtual machines to specify their own execution logic, determine their own fee regime, maintain their own state, facilitate their own networking, and provide their own security.
  • Each Subnet's performance is isolated from other Subnets in the ecosystem, so increased usage on one Subnet won't affect another.
  • Subnets can have their own token economics with their own native tokens, fee markets, and incentives determined by the Subnet deployer.
  • One Subnet can host multiple blockchains with customized virtual machines.

Native Interoperability​

  • Avalanche Warp Messaging enables native cross-Subnet communication and allows Virtual Machine (VM) developers to implement arbitrary communication protocols between any two Subnets.

Accommodate Application-Specific Requirements​

Different blockchain-based applications may require validators to have certain properties such as large amounts of RAM or CPU power.

  • A Subnet could require that validators meet certain hardware requirements so that the application doesn’t suffer from low performance due to slow validators.

Launch a Network Designed With Compliance In Mind​

Avalanche’s Subnet architecture makes regulatory compliance manageable. As mentioned above, a Subnet may require validators to meet a set of requirements.

Some examples of requirements the creators of a Subnet may choose include:

  • Validators must be located in a given country.
  • Validators must pass KYC/AML checks.
  • Validators must hold a certain license.

Control The Privacy of On-Chain Data​

Subnets are ideal for organizations interested in keeping their information private.

  • Institutions conscious of their stakeholders' privacy can create a private Subnet where the contents of the blockchains would be visible only to a set of pre-approved validators. Define this at creation with a single parameter.

Validator Sovereignty​

In a heterogeneous network of blockchains, some validators will not want to validate certain blockchains because they simply have no interest in those blockchains.

  • The Subnet model enables validators to concern themselves only with blockchain networks they choose to participate in. This greatly reduces the computational burden on validators.

Develop Your Own Subnet​

Subnets on Avalanche are deployed by default with Subnet-EVM, a fork of go-ethereum. It implements the Ethereum Virtual Machine and supports Solidity smart contracts as well as most other Ethereum client functionality.

To get started, check out the tutorials in our Subnets section.