The Algorand Foundation has announced that the latest version (2.0) of the Algorand protocol supports “standardized asset creation, atomic transfers, and smart contracts directly in Layer-1.”

As Binance Research explained in a research report published last month, Algorand is “a permissionless, pure proof of stake blockchain that ensures full participation, protection and speed within a truly decentralized network.”

Algorand’s aim is “to remove technical barriers that have undermined mainstream blockchain adoption: decentralization, scale, and security.”

Algorand was built by a team of “internationally recognized researchers, mathematicians, cryptographers, and economists along with proven business leaders from global technology companies.” The executive team consists of Silvio Micali (Founder), Steve Kokinos (CEO), and W. Sean Ford (COO).

The Algorand Foundation’s press release, which was issued on November 21, says that this protocol upgrade improves support for decentralized applications (DApps) on the Algorand platform

Algorand 2.0 offers three new features:

  • Algorand Standard Asset (ASA), which provides support for creation of any kind of asset on the Algorand blockchain, including fungible tokens such as currencies and utility tokens and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), such as tickets.
  • Atomic Transfers, which makes it possible to “simultaneously transfer a number of assets among multiple parties”, thereby allowing use cases such as “simplified and expedited debt settlement”.
  • Algorand Smart Contracts (ASC), which offer “numerous possibilities for governed transactions via simplified scripting templates”, hence enabling use cases such as “creating escrow accounts to crowdfunding to creating collateralized debt”.

Steve Kokinos, CEO of Algorand Inc., had this to say:

Building decentralized financial applications requires the right foundational technology and vision… With this release, new features and simple developer resources enable new use cases and broader adoption of blockchain overall.

And Shay Finkelstein, CTO at Securitize, one of the companies that has been using Algorand for some time now, stated:

“Issuing and managing compliant digital securities requires highly innovative technology. 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.”

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