Avalanche Foundation Introduces Gross Chain Income Metric
The Avalanche Foundation has developed a novel way to measure the economic activity within its ecosystem through the introduction of Gross Chain Income (GCI). This metric tracks how value flows to participants across the Avalanche network, including validators, developers, and liquidity providers.
GCI is part of the Foundation's Economic Research Agenda, which was published in July 2026. The agenda outlines a structured framework organized around three themes: Measure, Capture, and Distribute. This intellectual architecture was built by CIO Matias Antonio and Lead Economist Eric Lu.
The framework began taking shape earlier this year when the Foundation introduced Gross Chain Product (GCP) on May 7, 2026. GCP measures what the chain produces, while GCI tracks where that production ends up.