Last updated on August 18th, 2020 at 08:01 pm
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Algorand Project Review focuses on discussing the underlying smart technology built by Algorand for the blockchain ecosystem.
Algorand has built a blockchain ecosystem that allows everyone to participate and succeed.
Hence, the platform is being built with the core principles of simplicity, instant transactions, direct usage and adoption, and performance.
The platform aims to tackle one of major challenges faced in the Blockchain ecosystem i.e “The Blockchain Trilemma” by building a platform that is both fast and scalable, without sacrificing decentralization.
Algorand is looking to bring in scalability, decentralization and security to its platform, thereby solving the hitch encountered in the Blockchain ecosystem.
These three factors are very pertinent in the development of the platform: without a scalable solution there will be no mass adoption and since scalability can’t be at the expense of decentralization and security, hence the adoption of all three factors.
Algorand Network
Algorand’s protocol ties the security of the whole economy to the honesty of the majority of the economy. It makes it impossible for a small subset of the economy to control the fate of the whole economy.
Algorand’s Pure Proof-of-Stake:
A Pure PoS does not try to keep users honest by the fear of imposing fines. Rather, it makes cheating by a minority of the money impossible and cheating by a majority of the money void.
Algorand’s Atomic Swaps:
The typical goal of a cross-chain atomic swap is to enable two users of different blockchains to exchange the cryptocurrencies in a peer-to-peer fashion; that is, without the help of intermediaries.
For instance, a user in the Ethereum blockchain may wish to exchange some of his Ether for Algos owned by a user in the Algorand blockchain.
Atomic swaps are possible between users of the same blockchain. For instance, they may be used to swap a non-fungible token e.g. a city apartment posted on the chain for money or for another non-fungible token and possibly additional money.
ASA (Algorand Standard Asset)
ASAs makes it possible for the tokenization and issuance of any type of asset on the Algorand blockchain in a standardized way. ASAs are unique because:
- They are incredibly fast and secure, as they are built directly into Algorand’s Layer-1.
- They are low cost to execute, due to Algorand’s miniscule transaction fees.
- Easy and simple asset issuance for developers and enterprises.
- Universal interoperability of all assets issued on Algorand.
Algorand Token (ALGO)
ALGO is the native cryptocurrency used in Algorand’s ecosystem and can be safely stored on any ALGO compatible wallet.
Rewards in the form of algos are granted to Algorand users to promote behavior that strengthens the network, such as running nodes and proposing blocks.
Algorand Vault
Vault is a permissionless, proof-of-stake cryptocurrency that significantly reduces new client bootstrapping costs relative to the state of the art by reducing both steady-state storage costs and the sizes of proofs needed to verify the latest state.
Vault is a blockchain compression technology that allows new users to immediately join and participate in the Algorand network without a burdensome download.
Vault achieves its goals using three techniques:
- transaction expiration:
This helps vault to decouple storage of account balances from recent transactions and thus delete old account state. Vault decouples the tracking of account balances from the tracking of double-spent transactions.
- adaptive sharding: which allows
Vault to securely distribute the storage of account balances across participants;
It allows sharding the account state across nodes so that each node does not need to store the state of all accounts;
It allows all transactions to be validated by all nodes, using a Merkle tree to store the balance information
It adaptively caches upper layers of the Merkle tree so that the bandwidth cost of transferring Merkle proofs grows logarithmically with the number of accounts.
- stamping certificates:
This allows new clients to avoid verifying every block header, and which reduce the size of the certificate.
Benefits of Algorand Vault
• Efficient Bootstrapping
• Complete Bootstrapping
• Safe Bootstrapping
• Efficient Storage
• Liveness and Availability
Simply put, vault is algorand’s Solution to the Blockchain storage challenge. Vault safeguards both the decentralization of the Algorand blockchain and the accessibility of the chain to parties who never stored it.
Algorand Pixel
To operate in a consensual, decentralized, and secure manner, the Algorand protocol often asks multiple users to sign a common message.
To reduce the associated bandwidth while keeping the required security, Algorand uses a new digital signature scheme, Pixel.
Pixel-signatures simultaneously enjoy the following two properties:
AGGREGATION: They enable anyone to aggregate multiple signatures of the same message into a single signature of the same length.¹
FORWARD SECURITY. They prevent an adversary, who corrupts a user at a given point in time, from forging the user’s signatures on previous messages.
Aggregatable signatures, such as BLS signatures have been in existence. However, their usability is limited due to the lack of a common reference standard.
To bridge the gap between theory and implementation, Algorand has put together a standard of BLS signatures that is currently under review.
Algorand will use BLS signatures to authenticate individual transactions. Algorand will use Pixel signatures for the entire block generation process.
In sum, PIXEL is Algorand’s Bandwidth Reduction via Better Signatures.
Algorand Wallet
Algo Wallet is a mobile app that includes key features like: full integration of Algorand Standard Assets, and best-in-class security with Ledger Nano X integration.
It is a very simple and fast way to send and request algos on the Algorand blockchain.
The moment an Algorand Standard Asset is created, that asset is supported and accessible in the wallet.
The app is available for download on both Google play store and Apple store.
Conclusion
In sum, Algorand aims to build a world of FRICTIONLESS FINANCE.
Written By Adesina Oluwasanmi Algorand Ambassador
To know more, visit:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/algorand
Medium: https://medium.com/algorand
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/algorand
Telegram: https://t.me/algorand
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/AlgorandOfficial
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