Avalanche Surges on Helicon Mainnet Upgrade Hype, Hits $10 Midday

Avalanche (AVAX) has surged ahead of its upcoming Helicon mainnet upgrade.

As of 1:40 p.m. on May 20, AVAX was trading at $9.58, up 12.67% from the previous day according to CoinMarketCap. The price briefly surpassed the $10 mark during morning trading.

The Helicon upgrade, scheduled for May 22, is expected to influence investor sentiment. Helicon is a major upgrade aimed at improving validator operations and efficiency on the Avalanche network.

Under this upgrade, the minimum staking period for validators will be reduced from 14 days to 48 hours, potentially lowering time-related barriers for validator participation.