Release of The Algorand Rollup (A1) Public Testnet

4 min readJul 20, 2022

At the beginning of June we announced that we had successfully integrated the Milkomeda bridge with the Algorand Testnet and create the A1 rollup testnet. This is one of the first ever rollup integration outside of the Ethereum ecosystem!

Today we are excited to announce that we will be opening up the public testnet for the A1 rollup to allow you to test dApps, help us test for bugs, and to stress test the network.

We have multiple projects ready (bridges and DEXes) to launch on this testnet, but before we get into how you can connect to the rollup and begin testing, we want to go through the various components and why this is a significant milestone for both us and the community.

What is Algorand?

Algorand is a proof-of-stake blockchain that was founded by MIT professor Silvio Micali. It operates with instant finality using a three step process, including two votes by committee, to provide exceptionally quick block finalization times. So long as a supermajority of the stake supporting the network is in non-malicious hands then the protocol can tolerate malicious actors.

Like Cardano, Algorand Inc is the technology company, with a focus on blockchain, that develops the Algorand protocol. The Algorand Foundation manages ecosystem growth, blockchain research, on-chain governance, and the decentralization of the network. Algorand Inc is a technology company with a focus on blockchain which develops the Algrand protocol itself.

Algorand is a “Carbon-Negative Blockchain” offsetting its carbon emissions by allocating a portion of each transaction fee to do so.

Learn more about Algorand here:

Algorand Inc: Website

Algorand Foundation: Website

Algorand Research: White Papers

What is a Rollup?

A rollup is a scaling and interoperability solution for Layer 1 blockchains that, unlike sidechains, inherit security properties of the Layer 1 blockchain they are built on top of. Rollups are effectively “chains on top of chains” which maintain their own ecosystem of dApps and smart contracts. Rollups can use the currency of the Layer 1 as their base currency or “alternatively” other tokens.

The transactions that take place on the rollup are validated by a separate set of validators from those on the mainchain. Batched transaction data for the rollup is periodically posted to the Layer 1, where it can be read by any observer to reconstruct the latest state of the rollup. Of note, the Milkomeda A1 rollup is implementing a novel data availability protocol on top of Algorand to increase throughput and maximize Algorand’s networking capabilities.

In our protocol a merkel root is initially posted to Algorand as a “batch proposal” by a sequencer. Once this is confirmed the protocol moves to the batch submission phase. In this phase the actual contents of the batch, the EVM transactions for the A1 rollup, are all posted to Algorand in numerous sets of grouped transactions which then finalizes the batch and -thus- all the transactions within. In this way the A1 rollup continuously moves between the batch proposal and the batch submission phases on top of Algorand, providing users with the one of the first EVM rollup in the ecosystem.

Learn more about the Milkomeda Rollup here:

Video: YouTube

Article: Testnet Integration

Why is This Significant?

The deployment of this rollup marks the one of the first times a rollup has been deployed outside of the Ethereum ecosystem. This is a big cause for celebration as it shows this great piece of technology can impact numerous ecosystems across the crypto space! Our rollup also allows developers to write smart contracts for Algorand in Solidity, the world’s most popular language for smart contracts.

This empowers the ecosystem with one of the major goals that Milkomeda is aiming to deliver; strong interoperability which both users and developer alike will benefit from. The other significant part is that this is a rollup, not a sidechain. As a result, it inherits the underlying security properties of the Layer 1 blockchain, Algorand, and uses this Layer 1 blockchain for data availability. This means that anyone following the Algorand chain can automatically watch our Layer 2, the A1 rollup, as both progress side-by-side.

How Can You Connect To the A1 Rollup Testnet?

The user experience for using the A1 rollup testnet will be exactly the same as for users of C1, facilitated through the familiar Milkomeda Bridge. If you’ve already connected to our C1 sidechain then you will have been through this process before.

For using the Milkomeda Bridge to connect to the A1 rollup from Algorand we recommend reading this article about getting started and checking:

Getting Started with Milkomeda A1 — Documentation: