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"What is Algorand?"

General
Geno
Geno

Hello Everyone,

I was listening to some Algorand discussions and these are some of the notes that I came up with for people who are new.

"What is Algorand?

Algorand enables borderless economy, you can create new types of applications where people can transact across borders without having to go through the legacy financial systems.

There are - No forks and no proof of work.

All the blocks are already confirmed.

To be a validator of transactions, you can setup a node.

You’re able to run a node to verify transactions on something as simple as a rasberry pi.

It’s - Easy to run a node and there’s no electricity waste.

Every block goes through a special consensus algorithm before it’s confirmed.

Once confirmed, it’s immediately appended to the blockchain.

It’s a global system because it’s permissionless.
This means that anyone can take part in it from anywhere and not pay any sort of entrance fee."

Basically I’m trying to simplify an explanation of Algorand here as you can see. The above is obviously missing a lot of valuable information that could be added. If you think that you have additional information that is verifiable and would also fit well with the above description, please feel free to comment and I can add it.

Thanks.

Maugli
MaugliLipovszki Gábor

That is marketing hype, although it is true in this case :slight_smile:
The real question is: HOW it enables bla-bla-bla. I think it is the transaction count that counts.
It is claimed that Algorand can support 1000 tps. (Transactions/second)

OK, true again, but WHY?
Mining in the Bitcoin network is very resource hungry - you can do your own research here…
Algorand is proof of stake network, with a computationally efficient algorithm - so we can save the world by using it :slight_smile: See prof. Micali’s working papers, here: https://www.algorand.com/resources/white-papers

See the working paper of prof. Silvio Micali, here:
https://www.algorand.com/resources/white-papers
especially: https://algorandcom.cdn.prismic.io/algorandcom%2Fa26acb80-b80c-46ff-a1ab-a8121f74f3a3_p51-gilad.pdf

It is a fact. You can see how, at:

Facts again.
What are your questions?

To explain it in simple terms is a VERY hard task.
To begin with:

  • it is a proof of stake network. (Explain: proof-of-work, proof-.of-stake)

  • blocks are formed with Byzantine agreement protocol (explain Byzantine agreement, and the special one used in Algorand)

  • commetees to execute the steps of the Byzantine agreement are formed in a sortition process

  • the sortition is a cryptographyc sorttion (Explain: VRF, verifiable random functions, zero knowledge proofs)

  • practical knowledge - Algorand accounts (explain: mnemonic, two kind of accounts, Algorand address)

  • practical knowledge - ASC1, ASA (explain: comntract in general, and the limited contract zygote in Algorand, also the advantages of Algorand Standard Assest)

  • practical knowledge - to open a wallet (on Andriod mobile or on the Web)

If you have any questions, feel free to post it.

My suggestions for questions:

Best regards,
M