# Avalanche Avalanche is an open, programmable smart contracts platform used to launch both private and public blockchains (subnets) for the development of decentralized applications. While avax.network provides documentation and guides to [add validators](https://docs.avax.network/nodes/validate/what-is-staking), the Bloq platform makes it easy by providing the infrastructure needed and an API to allow users to easily create validators and start staking. > The minimum amount that a validator must stake is 2,000 AVAX --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.bloq.com/bloq-services/bloqstake/avalanche.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.