Avalanche developers have launched the blockchain’s “Avalanche9,000” testnet, an upgrade that aims to bring cheaper and easier L1 development to its network.

Avalanche9,000 went live at roughly 1pm ET on Monday, the Avalanche Foundation said in a statement. The Foundation will disburse $40 million in retroactive grants to builders on Avalanche, including $2 million for referrals, to stimulate the network’s growth and adoption.

The upgrade will come to Avalanche’s mainnet, called the C-Chain, sometime in 2025.

“[This latest upgrade] focuses on making every component of the Avalanche tech stack cheaper,” Ava Labs Chief Protocol Architect Stephen Buttolph told Decrypt. “From reducing C-Chain fees to removing capital requirements for L1 validators, every user of Avalanche should experience reduced costs.”

Avalanche9,000 spans the Etna Upgrade, a set of network changes that includes new validator-related rules, in addition to the rebranding of Avalanche subnets to Avalanche L1s.

Avalanche L1s are dedicated, project-specific chains that are built on the same tech stack, but operate independently from the C-Chain mainnet. The developers of games like Off the Grid and