With BTC surpassing the $30,000 resistance, it is important to keep an eye on the alternative coins. These Alt coins usually have a lower market cap and lower coin price, meaning they can have a much larger upside. With this higher upside it is important to note that high risk comes with a high reward. One of the Altcoins the crypto community had kept its eye on during the last bull run was Algorand, lets dive deeper into this project and see what the developers have been working on this year.
What is Algorand:
Algorand is a cryptocurrency/blockchain platform that aims to provide a secure, scalable, and decentralized platform for digital transactions. It was created by Silvio Micali, who is an Italian computer scientist, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the founder of Algorand.
The Algorand network uses a consensus mechanism called Pure Proof-of-Stake (PPoS), which allows for fast transaction processing and ensures that the network remains secure and decentralized.
ALGO is used to pay for transactions and smart contract executions on the network, as well as to participate in staking and governance activities. ALGO holders can earn rewards for participating in the network's consensus mechanism.
Algorand also offers a range of tools and services for developers, including a smart contract language called TEAL and a suite of APIs for building decentralized applications (dApps).
Jessica Rsai Chin & FIFA January 24th:
The Algorand Foundation hired previous WhatsApp and Nike executive Jessica Tsai Chin to help guide their marketing. Jessica's primary focus is holding conversations around the web3 space along with DeFi and the social impacts Algorand could have. She believes that sports marketing is going to be a major player for Algorand. The decision to hire Jessica took place recently after the collapse of popular crypto exchange FTX and Three Arrows Capital.
FIFA launched a NFT platform on Algorand in the Run-up to the World Cup. The goal was to release a soccer themed digital collection that was affordable, inclusive and accessible. It is important to note that FIFA is also partnered with Addidas, CocaCola and Wanda. This has the potential to reach even further than FIFA.
Matthew Commons March 1st:
On March 1st Matthew was hired as the first chief financial officer for Algorand. His main focus is to identify areas where ALGO can grow, and that they have the right financial plan in place to chase after these opportunities.
Matthew is a Harvard Business school grad with the following experience:
CFO and Managing Directo at Orgin INC
CEO, Chairman and Co-Founder of Cambridge Blockchain Inc
President of Commons Partners LLC
AlgoBharat & India March 29th:
Algorand has set their eyes on the world's most populous country India. This project is set to support the nation's transformation from Web2 to the new and improved Web3 world. It is no surprise that India take on a lot of outsourced work from Silicon Valley companies and even global banks.
AlgoBharat currently is not a registered entity in India but will have a dedicated team, focused on real world utility for blockchain use in India and for the rest of the world. Kakani (VP & India Country Head), who was an adviser for India at the U.S Tresury, said they plan on engaging with regulators this year. With Algorand previously working with Italy in 2022 and being selected as their Digital Guarantees Platform, the team has plenty of experience here.
India has previously attempted to ban the crypto industry, to enforcing a more strict tax regimen in 2022. Algorand has a 3 step plan to attempt to bring Web3 to India.
Expand the Web3 developer base through education.
Focus on startups going from Web2 to Web3.
Focus on high-profile use case partnerships like state and governments.
AlgoKit March 29th:
In an effort to help the transition from Web2 to Web3, Algorand released the AlgoKit. This suite of tools was designed to help Web2 developers test and transition onto Algorands Web3 platform. AlgoKit gives users the ability to explore and interact with an, isolated, local Algorand network called LocalNet. This is extremely helpful in the design and test phases of a project before deploying your project onto the mainnet.
Initally the AlgoKit will be focused on the development of smart-contracts. This will potentially lead into the full-stack development and will offer templates to users, so they can learn how to start building on Algorand
Airline Issues Tickets as NFT March 30th:
An Argentinian airline issued every ticket as an NFT on March 30th. The carrier Flybondi expanded its partnershup with TravelX to issue out tickets as NFTs' on the Algorand blockchain using Web3.
This new integration is called Ticket 3.0. Flybondi said that using NFT tickets offered a more flexible travel experience. This allowed pasengers to buy in advance without the need to define who they were traveling with and thus reduced the customer service costs and increase revenue from trading fees. The company does not charge a fee when users purchase a ticket, but they do recieve a 2% transaction fee when trades are made on the secondary market.
