EXTRA SAFE is a messenger that lets you send tokenized dollars inside a conversation, and a payment that lives inside a chat carries a specific demand — it has to feel as natural as the messaging. Avalanche matched what that experience needed closely enough to become our default blockchain, and the fit grew into a collaboration with Ava Labs. The wallet still works across many chains, but Avalanche is the one a transfer runs on unless you pick another.

Here's the thinking behind that decision: what a money-in-chat product really needs from a blockchain, and where Avalanche fits.

Four Things That Make Payments in a Chat Possible

When you send money in a chat, you expect it to be as easy as sending a text. Messaging is fast, simple, and always available. Payments in chat need to meet those same standards, which leads to four main requirements:

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  Transfers should feel instant. If they settle in about a second, that’s fast enough to keep up with the pace of messaging.

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  Fees should be low and predictable. When costs are small and steady, you know what you’ll pay before sending money. For regular users, low fees fade into the background, so more of your money arrives where it should instead of being lost to costs.

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  EVM compatibility is important. Most major networks use the Ethereum Virtual Machine, which is a common way blockchains run code. Since tokenized dollars already exist on these networks, using the same standard keeps the wallet connected everywhere.

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  A strong ecosystem is important. Features such as liquidity, good tools, trusted institutions, and active developers show that a network can handle large volumes for years to come.

Many blockchains meet some of these needs. We wanted the one that covers all four.

How Avalanche Meets These Requirements

Speed is the first thing you notice. Avalanche finalizes transactions in less than a second using its Snowman consensus mechanism, which is how the network agrees a transfer is complete. This makes each send final almost instantly, so money arrives as quickly as your message.

The same is true for fees. Avalanche keeps costs low and steady, so you always know what you’ll pay, and the amount is small enough that you hardly notice it.

There's a deeper reason Avalanche is the default blockchain: its C-Chain runs on the same EVM standard as Ethereum, so the tokenized dollars and contracts people already use carry over without friction, and it has a mature ecosystem around ERC-4337 — the "smart accounts" that let a fee be paid in the token being sent.

All of this creates a large, proven ecosystem. That’s the kind of foundation you want for something as new as in-chat payments, and for the growth that comes as more people use it. Big names like BlackRock, Citi, and Franklin Templeton build financial infrastructure on Avalanche, and the network handles over 4,500 transactions per second. For a product aiming to make tokenized dollars everyday money, that reliability matters as much as speed.

What This Means When You Send Money in a Chat

With Avalanche as the default blockchain, here’s what using EXTRA SAFE feels like day to day:

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  You send tokenized dollars in a conversation, just like you’d share anything else in a chat.

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  The network fee is paid in the same token you’re sending, so the stablecoin you have is the only balance you need.

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  The transfer confirms in less than a second, so it’s finished by the time you look up from the chat.

The blockchain works in the background, so the person sending money never has to think about it. That’s the difference between a crypto product and a product that simply uses crypto technology.

The Collaboration Ahead

Choosing a default chain is just the beginning. EXTRA SAFE and Ava Labs are working together because we believe the next users will come from the everyday apps people already use. EXTRA SAFE already has over 500,000 downloads across app stores and has grown 5.8 times in organic usage in the first five months.

Beta access opens in June. Be one of the first to try our main payment features.

JOIN THE BETA →