Blockchain network Avalanche announced the launch of Avalanche Multiverse, an incentive program that will accelerate the adoption of subnets that are app-specific blockchain ecosystems.

According to the director of Avalanche Foundation, Emin Gün Sirer, subnets are the next big thing on the blockchain. GünSirer said that subnets enable functions that are only possible with “network-level control and open experimentation.” He also mentioned that while smart contracts carried innovations within blockchain in the last five years, he believes subnets are next.

Avalanche Foundation Director Emin Gün Sirer. Source: cornell.edu

The program will allocate up to four million Avalanche (AVAX), worth roughly $290 million, to fund blockchain gaming, decentralized finance (DeFi), nonfungible tokens (NFTs) and institutional use cases.

The Avalanche Multiverse is headlined by many prominent collaborators including DeFi Kingdoms, Aave, Golden Tree Asset Management, Wintermute, Jump Crypto, Valkyrie and Securitize.

The program will be bringing a subnet that’s specific to DeFi Kingdoms with incentives worth $15 million. According to Frisky Fox, a DeFi Kingdoms executive, Avalanche‘s subnet technology is a “perfect fit” for their project. “The entire DeFi Kingdoms universe is written into smart contracts, pushing the envelope of what is possible with blockchain technology,” says Fox.

Avalanche’s core developer Ava Labs will also be working with the rest of the collaborators to build an integrated blockchain with native Know Your Customer (KYC) functions created specifically for institutional DeFi.

Wes Cowan, managing director of DeFi at Valkyrie Investments, says that “Avalanche’s subnet with KYC infrastructure, will be a massive step forward for institutional adoption and we are proud to support the implementation.”

Related: Terra, Avalanche and Osmosis lead the L1 recovery while Bitcoin searches for support

Meanwhile, crypto exchange platform FTX has also created a fund that aims to support projects that are “massively scalable” and provide long-term solutions for humanity. The FTX Future Fund will deploy up to $2 billion for projects ranging from artificial intelligence, biorisk danger reduction and efficient altruism.