Our team have been following the recent updates from the Algorand’s universe for over 2 months and this is our 6th report on the world’s first open-source, permissionless, pure proof-of-stake blockchain protocol.
In terms of recent developments, Algorand has announced two enhancements, a fully redesigned indexer and refreshed APIs, that directly improve developer and service provider experience.
The Indexer now supports searching for transactions, accounts, assets, and blocks. In addition, these searches can be refined using parameters that allow searching based on transaction and balance amounts, time-based searches, round-based searches and transaction type searches, and signature searches.
The new API, which provides cleaner organization and is architected for federated result searching, will open a wider feature set and lay the groundwork for upcoming releases and upgrades of the protocol.
Algorand is consistently supporting some of the most promising minds in the industry. The previous 2 weeks have been rich major partnerships.
To begin with, Blockstack and Algorand, have jointly announced an independent open-source project to support a first-of-its-kind smart contract language, Clarity. Clarity is a “decidable” language, meaning developers can know, with mathematical certainty, what a program will and will not do ahead of time. This shift addresses a key obstacle currently preventing large-scale, serious use.
Algorand Founder Dr. Silvio Micali said, “Smart contracts are an integral driver of blockchain adoption, as they eliminate the need for a third-party intermediary and facilitate frictionless economic exchange. With high volumes — and values — of assets stored in smart contracts, the emergence of a next generation programming language such as Clarity has the potential to unlock blockchain-based solutions for large-scale enterprises and governments, which demand a higher level of trust and security.”
Secondly, Algorand Foundation has launched Algorand Asia Accelerator together with Borderless Capital, the Algorand-focused blockchain venture fund. Algorand Asia Accelerator aims to encourage and spur blockchain development in particular synergy with Finance 3.0 and beyond, empowering projects to build, grow and foster financial innovations in the Algorand ecosystem.
The programme offers USD$15,000 upfront seed funding for each selected project, with these projects also eligible for up to USD$250,000 in follow-on investment. Applications are now open till 16th August, 2020 GMT+8.
Last but not least, Algorand Foundation partners with Chainalysis for anti-money laundering compliance solution. Chainalysis is a blockchain analysis company. The Algorand Foundation will use Chainalysis KYT (Know Your Transaction) for transaction monitoring and compliance processes and Chainalysis Reactor for enhanced due diligence and investigations for the ALGO, its native token. Through integration with Chainalysis KYT via an API, token issuers like the Algorand Foundation can monitor large volumes of activity and identify high-risk transactions on an ongoing basis. The user interface also allows them to quickly understand the risk profile of each token holder with up-to-date data, filtering them by the level of risk exposure to identify those that require the most immediate attention.
Read on for more news!
Development
Github metrics:
Developer activity (from Coinlib.io):
Check out the latest developer resources at developer.algorand.org
Algorand Upgrades Protocol with Improved Indexer and API
Algorand has announced two enhancements, a fully redesigned indexer and refreshed APIs, that directly improve developer and service provider experience.
Updated Algorand Indexer
Algorand’s redesigned indexer is purpose-built to support these use cases and also provides tangible benefits in the form of reduced work for developers by providing computed data and multiple deployment options and horizontal scalability to fit the needs of service providers.
The Indexer now supports searching for transactions, accounts, assets, and blocks. In addition, these searches can be refined using parameters that allow searching based on transaction and balance amounts, time-based searches, round-based searches and transaction type searches, and signature searches.
For more information on the Indexer, please visit https://developer.algorand.org/articles/introducing-algorands-v2-indexer/ .
Updated Algorand API
The new API, which provides cleaner organization and is architected for federated result searching, will open a wider feature set and lay the groundwork for upcoming releases and upgrades of the protocol.
Full documentation on the release can be found here.
New Algorand Developer Portal
It has a new, enhanced interface and there are three new types of content for developers: Tutorials, Solutions, and Articles. These new content libraries complement Algorand Developer Docs.
Quick links:
Browse all JavaScript Tutorials
Development Awards Program
Contribute to the Algorand Developer Docs
The official Algorand Developer Documentation repository is now public and open to contributions by the community.
The official repository for the Algorand Developer Documentation is located at https://github.com/algorand/docs and is licensed under an MIT license.
Take a look at Algorand Contributing Guide for detailed information on the types of contributions they are looking for and how to get started.
The Algorand Foundation Developer Ambassador Program
Many of developers have already provided valuable feedback about Algorand documentation through the Algorand Forums
Creating your own asset on Algorand
Algorand Standard Assets (ASAs) benefit from the same security, compatibility, speed & ease of use as the ALGO. The Algorand team has made it straightforward for ASAs to represent stablecoins, loyalty points, system credits, and in-game points, just to name a few examples. Watch this video to learn how to create an ASA in a few simple steps.
For more information, check out:
https://developer.algorand.org/articl…
Algorand’s Smart Contract Architecture
An overview of Accounts on Algorand
It reviews core terminology and guides developers on how to interpret these terms in different contexts.
Reference Docs
How to run a Node
Community Projects
Algorand Consensus
Learn more about how Algorand consensus works
The Algorand blockchain uses a decentralized Byzantine Agreement protocol that leverages pure proof of stake (Pure POS). This means that it can tolerate malicious users, achieving consensus without a central authority, as long as a supermajority of the stake is in non-malicious hands. This protocol is very fast and requires minimal computational power per node, giving it the ability to finalize transactions efficiently.
More details about the protocol can be found here
Algorand Co-chains
sign up for Algorand Developer Newsletter for the latest news, solutions, and tutorials on Algorand.
Social encounters
Upcoming events
The Algorand team regularly hold meetups and events with those looking to learn more about blockchain, understand what is possible with Algorand technology, or even build their business on Algorand.
Check out this community.algorand.org page for more information on upcoming events.
Finance
Mainnet stats (information from https://algoexplorer.io)
Algo Dynamics
The Algorand blockchain network has its own official native cryptocurrency, called the Algo, to drive their borderless economy and the system of incentives. The allocation of Algos and how they are being distributed is presented here. The Foundation holds Algos to contribute to the stability of the Algorand blockchain and to support the Algorand community, ecosystem building and research. The Algos will enter the ecosystem via various channels including development and research grants and sales. All such activities will be disclosed with full transparency to the community.
The Newly Designed Algorand Wallet
Algorand Wallet and it’s features are here
Create an Account on the Algorand Wallet
PlanetWatch and the Algorand Blockchain
Planet token is currently the only validated Asset on the Algorand TestNet and the one generating most transactions.
Over the last three weeks, nearly 700,000 blockchain transactions have been generated.
PlanetWatch rewards anyone who sends environmental data via a sensor connected to our network. For each valid measurement, 0.01 Planet is awarded. The reward is split across all the stakeholders involved, as follows: 60% goes to the sensor owner, 30% to PlanetWatch, and the remaining 10% fills a “development pot” that will be used to support future projects. Qualifying measurements from the sensor currently used by Beta Testers are PM1, PM2.5, and PM10 values. All data are permanently recorded on the Algorand blockchain.
You can find out more about PlanetWatch by reading the article “Beta Testing Progress Report”
ALGO/USDT Perpetual Futures Trading Competition — $250,000 in ALGO to be Won!
Binance and Algorand have together committed a total of 250,000 USD in ALGO tokens to give away to the users worldwide to celebrate the ALGO/USDT perpetual contract being added to Binance Futures.
Competition Period: 2020/06/18 00:00 AM to 2020/06/25 0:00 AM (UTC)
Roadmap
By combining cutting-edge research and innovation with an ecosystem that enables ease and speed of development, the Algorand Foundation strives to anticipate and fulfill future technology needs.
The Algorand Foundation has contracted with Algorand, Inc. to begin development on several advancements to the foundational Algorand public blockchain.
VAULT™
Vault is a blockchain compression technology that allows new users to immediately join and participate in the Algorand network without a burdensome download.
View Whitepaper: Vault: Fast Bootstrapping for the Algorand Cryptocurrency
Algorand’s Forthcoming Technology, by Silvio Micali
PIXEL
Pixel is a new digital signature scheme built for Proof of Stake systems that reduce space requirements through committee member signature aggregation while maintaining forward-security through key rotation.
Pixel-signatures: Efficient and Secure Digital Signatures for Proof-of-Stake Blockchains
Algorand’s Forthcoming Technology, by Silvio Micali
SELF-VALIDATING TRANSACTIONS
Self-validating transactions are an advance that allows separation of consensus and storage to enhance the efficiency and the logical structure of the Algorand blockchain.
Algorand’s Forthcoming Technology, by Silvio Micali
ATOMIC² SWAPS
Atomic² swaps leverage Algorand’s instant transaction finality and implement same-chain swaps of assets, without any type of time- or hash-locks, in a single transaction.
Algorand’s Forthcoming Technology, by Silvio Micali
POST-AND-SALE TRADES
An exchange of assets usually requires interactivity: prior to delivering the asset, a seller must find a buyer and negotiate terms. Post-and-sale trade technology will allow any seller to post assets for sale, at a given price. Any buyer can browse these offers, pay the price and receive the asset immediately without having to interact at all with the seller or any third party.
Algorand’s Forthcoming Technology, by Silvio Micali
SMART² CONTRACTS
Smart contracts permit trusted transactions and agreements to be carried between parties around the world without the need of a trusted third party, but they can be slow and expensive.
Smart² contracts™ leverage Algorand’s consensus mechanism to offer faster and cheaper forms of smart contracts.
Partnerships and team members
Algorand teams up with Blockstack and adopts Clarity smart contract language
Blockstack and Algorand, have jointly announced an independent open-source project to support a first-of-its-kind smart contract language, Clarity.
Teams run by Blockstack Founder Dr. Muneeb Ali, a Princeton Ph.D in computer science, and Algorand Founder Dr. Silvio Micali, a computer science professor at MIT, will collaborate on Clarity design and development.
Algorand and Blockstack are both top-100 projects on CoinMarketCap and have deep scientific roots that originate from the computer science departments at MIT and Princeton, respectively.
Unlike common “undecidable” languages, that by their nature make it impossible to know precisely how a contract will behave in certain situations without prior execution, Clarity is a “decidable” language, meaning developers can know, with mathematical certainty, what a program will and will not do ahead of time. This shift addresses a key obstacle currently preventing large-scale, serious use.
Algorand Founder Dr. Silvio Micali said, “Smart contracts are an integral driver of blockchain adoption, as they eliminate the need for a third-party intermediary and facilitate frictionless economic exchange. With high volumes — and values — of assets stored in smart contracts, the emergence of a next generation programming language such as Clarity has the potential to unlock blockchain-based solutions for large-scale enterprises and governments, which demand a higher level of trust and security.”
Additionally, Algorand and Blockstack see Clarity as a way to work towards interchain communication, inviting others to join them on this open-source initiative to avoid walled gardens that traditionally require a third party intermediary. With Clarity, developers can initiate and execute contracts between each other seamlessly through the use of a widely adopted, decidable, open-source language.
Please, visit Clarity-lang.org or GitHub for more information or to collaborate on this open-source initiative :
Algorand Foundation and Borderless Capital Launch Algorand Asia Accelerator, Powered by LongHash Ventures
Algorand Foundation has launched Algorand Asia Accelerator together with Borderless Capital, the Algorand-focused blockchain venture fund. Powered by LongHash Ventures, the native Web 3.0 blockchain accelerator and investor, Algorand Asia Accelerator aims to encourage and spur blockchain development in particular synergy with Finance 3.0 and beyond, empowering projects to build, grow and foster financial innovations in the Algorand ecosystem.
The programme offers USD$15,000 upfront seed funding for each selected project, with these projects also eligible for up to USD$250,000 in follow-on investment.
For the duration of the 12-week accelerator programme, Algorand Asia Accelerator provides selected projects with end-to-end support across the spectrum of strategy formulation, go-to-market execution, and subject matter guidance across technological mentorship, token economics, marketing, and fundraising. Algorand Asia Accelerator has onboarded mentors distinguished in various fields and disciplines, including Paolo Ardoino, Chief Technology Officer at Tether, Carlos Domingo, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder at Securitize, Jing Chen, Chief Scientist of Algorand Inc., as well as Deng Chao, Managing Director at HashKey Capital, among others.
Applications are now open till 16th August, 2020 GMT+8. Interested projects can apply here.
Algorand Foundation Partners with Chainalysis for Anti-Money Laundering Compliance Solution
Chainalysis, the blockchain analysis company, announced a partnership with the Algorand Foundation.
Once the integration is complete, the Algorand Foundation will use Chainalysis KYT (Know Your Transaction) for transaction monitoring and compliance processes and Chainalysis Reactor for enhanced due diligence and investigations for the ALGO, its native token.
By leveraging Chainalysis KYT, cryptocurrency organisations like the Algorand Foundation can monitor large volumes of cryptocurrency activity and identify high-risk transactions on a continuous basis. Real-time alerts on the highest-risk activity allow compliance teams to focus on the most urgent activity and fulfill their regulatory obligations to report suspicious activity. Chainalysis Reactor assists cryptocurrency businesses to further investigate suspicious transactions and provide more detailed reporting on criminal activity such as fraud, extortion, and money laundering on the blockchain.
Through integration with Chainalysis KYT via an API, token issuers like the Algorand Foundation can monitor large volumes of activity and identify high-risk transactions on an ongoing basis. The user interface also allows them to quickly understand the risk profile of each token holder with up-to-date data, filtering them by the level of risk exposure to identify those that require the most immediate attention.
For more information on Chainalysis, please visit https://www.chainalysis.com/.
The graph above illustrates changes in the number of Chainlink Reddit subscribers and Twitter followers. The information is taken from Coingecko.com.
This report is not financial advice.
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