The Algorand Foundation has announced availability of its protocol upgrade. This expands the range of decentralised applications (Dapps) and processes buildable on the Algorand platform. It will be possible to build enterprise-scale Dapps on a proof of stake (PPoS) blockchain without sacrificing performance.
“Issuing and managing compliant digital securities requires highly innovative technology,” said Shay Finkelstein, CTO at Securitize, a provider of a global solution for digital securities.
“Algorand is delivering that innovation with this new set of features that brings an impressive amount of opportunity to decentralized finance. Algorand’s performance combined with the new 2.0 release of their core protocol shows great potential for compliant, cost effective securities trading infrastructure and will enable Securitize to provide an efficient version of our compliance layer for our customers.”
The Algorand creation
Algorand created an open source, permissionless, proof-of-stake blockchain protocol for the next generation of financial products. This blockchain, the Algorand protocol, was the brainchild of Turing Award-winning cryptographer Silvio Micali. Algorand Inc is the company hoping to remove friction from financial exchanges by a DeFi evolution which:
- enables creation and exchange of value
- builds new financial tools and services
- brings assets on-chain
- provides responsible privacy models.
The following capabilities, built directly into Layer-1, provide speed, scalability and finality:
- Algorand Standard Asset (ASA): this makes it possible for a standardised tokenisation and issuance of any type of asset on the Algorand blockchain to occur.
- Atomic transfers: these offer a fast, low cost, simultaneous and secure way to transfer a number of assets among multiple parties (in traditional economies, this requires some form of trusted or legal framework). Atomic Transfers provide an elegant solution to enable more use cases, such as simplified and expedited debt settlement, efficient matched funding, and more.
- Algorand Smart Contracts (ASC): these are stateless smart contracts which offer numerous possibilities for governed transactions via simplified scripting templates and automatically enforce custom rules and logic (typically describing how assets transfer) and, in so doing, lower cost and risk in the process.
- A scripting language: called TEAL (Transaction Execution Approval Language), it enables developers to build their own transaction rule structures and smart contracts (which is useful for everything from creating escrow accounts to crowdfunding to creating collateralised debt).
Multiple asset type support
The updated protocol supports multiple forms of asset types:
- fungible assets include currencies, stablecoins and utility tokens
- restricted fungible assets include securities
- non-fungible assets include tickets
- restricted non-fungible assets include licenses and certifications.
“Building decentralized financial applications requires the right foundational technology and vision,” said Steve Kokinos, CEO of Algorand Inc.
“At Algorand, we’re committed to continuous innovation and the development of technology that solves real-world challenges. With this release, new features and simple developer resources enable new use cases and broader adoption of blockchain overall.”
About the Algorand Foundation
According to Algorand a number of financial services, real estate, and enterprise technology organisations are already leveraging Algorand’s decentralised, scalable, and secure public blockchain to address existing business challenges. Algorand 2.0, coming less than six months after the launch of Algorand’s MainNet, provides needed features for the DeFi movement.
The Algorand Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation which envisages a borderless economy built on public, decentralised blockchain technology. The Foundation, in partnership with Algorand Inc, built the Algorand protocol as the cornerstone for its vision.
The Foundation envisions a wide breadth of applications made possible on Algorand. It focuses on:
- enabling developers to build next generation tools
- educating and fostering an inclusive community encompassing protocol governance and economic efficiency in the development of the Algorand ecosystem.
Enterprise Times: what does this mean
Algorand 2.0 offers standardised asset creation, atomic transfers and smart contracts directly in Layer-1. These aim to leverage the scalability and security of the updated Algorand protocol. In effect the update acts to unlock the ability to develop scalable blockchain-native solutions for real-world use cases.
Enterprise Times first covered Algorand in mid 2107. Since then there has seemed to be silence. Now a major upgrade arrives, which is welcome. Its applicability will take time. As that occurs Enterprise Times hopes Algorand can improve its visibility and, thereby, credibility.
