Interoperability, Speed, and On Chain Randomness
Today, I am thrilled to announce the latest release of the Algorand protocol — Algorand 3.9. With the introduction of State Proofs that enable trustless interoperability, 6000 TPS, sub 4 second average block latency, and AVM 7 with on chain randomness within smart contracts, this release expands Algorand’s capabilities even further and keeps the network at the technological forefront. These features will be available next week once the network completes the upgrade.
State Proofs
State Proofs are lightweight, cryptographically provable, portable proofs of Algorand state that let dApps on other blockchains trustlessly verify Algorand transactions. State Proofs make it easier to develop cross-chain products such as direct bridges, and reduce the needed trust in existing bridging networks. State Proofs also make it safer to use these cross-chain services. In addition, State proofs are post-quantum secure, making Algorand the first extensive L1 network that protects its history, even from quantum computers.
Performance
As demand for blockchain technology increases, the underlying protocol’s performance must also improve. Algorand is committed to exceeding end-user requirements and ensuring you never need to wait on a transaction. To support our developers and the traffic from the great dApps they create, we have boosted our performance by a factor of 5 to 6,000 TPS. The network now produces larger blocks (5Mib) and produces blocks faster (sub 4 second block latency and finality).
AVM 7 with On-Chain Randomness
On-chain randomness is a highly sought-after feature for dApp developers. It enables use cases such as lotteries, fair selections, and more, but developers have not had access to a reliable source. AVM 7 provides the ability to create randomness oracles that will enable every smart contract to get fresh randomness from a secure source when needed.
Stay tuned for more blogs about these features in the next few days.
Lastly, thanks to everyone in our great community who contributed to this release by writing code, filing bugs, testing the release candidate, and providing us with awesome new ideas. The code is available on Github. If you find bugs or have any ideas for improvement, please file an issue.
