What are the differences between Avalanche C-Chain, X-Chain, and P-Chain

Avalanche is a smart contract blockchain. It has 1 second time to finality and the network can process 4,500 transactions per second. Avalanche’s primary network has 3 blockchains; C-Chain, X-Chain, and P-Chain. Avalanche blockchain has been developed by AVA Labs.

C-Chain (Contract Chain)

C stands for contract. C-Chain uses for smart contracts such as transactions, dApps, games, web3, and NFTs. Most of applications are deployed on C-Chain. It uses Ethereum-style 0x wallet address. MetaMask supports C-Chain. Avalanche’s dApps such as AAVE and TraderJoe use C-Chain.

X-Chain (Exchange Chain)

The purpose of X-Chain is use for sending and receiving funds. X-Chain has been designed specifically for high throughput transactions. Gas price on C-Chain can be fluctuated depends on the network traffic. But X-Chain transaction fees are fixed at 0.001 AVAX. The disadvantage of X-Chain is that it cannot be used with MetaMask and cannot be used for DeFi. Users only get access to X-Chain through Avalanche wallet.

P-Chain (Platform Chain)

P-Chain uses for validators. Avalanche’s validators receive AVAX rewards through P-Chain. Validators who staked AVAX get rewards from P-Chain.

What chain is for regular users?

C-Chain can be used for everything such as transactions, DeFi, games, and trading NFTs. For regular users, if you don’t want to get confused you can use C-Chain for your daily blockchain activities.

In conclusion C-Chain is for regular usage. X-Chain is for payment, and P-Chain is for staking.


Further reading

What’s the Difference Between the Avalanche C-Chain, X-Chain, and P-Chain? | by DeFi Decrypted | Medium

The Primary Network | Avalanche Dev Docs (avax.network)

What are the differences between the X, P, and C-chains? | Avalanche Support (avax.network)