The team behind Avalanche launched its major upgrade on the testnet on Monday. The upgrade, called "Avalanche9000", includes a number of technical improvements aimed at reducing the cost of blockchain deployment by 99.9%. These improvements include community proposals ACP-77 (making Avalanche L1 validators more flexible) and ACP-125 (aimed at reducing Avalanche's base fees by 96%).
At the same time, a $40 million retroactive grant program Retro9000 was launched to reward builders who develop L1 blockchains and other tools on the Avalanche9000 testnet. (The Block)