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Welcome to the Weekly Pulse, a weekly Algorand news wrap-up segment presented by Algopulse. Through both written and video content we will provide the community with a one-stop-shop for everything they need to know about the ecosystem. In this inaugural edition, there is certainly no shortage of exciting news from around the world of Algorand to share.
Tinyman raises $USD 2.5mil in funding and launches on Mainnet
After months of eager anticipation from the Algorand community, Tinyman launched on Mainnet on October 8th. Tinyman is an Algorand based Automatic Market Maker (AMM) offering a range of services including the ability to freely swap, create pools, and track transactional activities. According to Borderless Capital’s David Garica, the company already has a TLV of $USD 16 mil with total liquidity of $USD 16 mil. The company also confirmed that it has concluded its seed funding round and raised $USD 2.5mil from various investors including Borderless Capital, Arrington Capital, Meld Ventures, The LAO, Genesis Capital, Digital Currency Group, BlockTower Capital, and GoldenTree Asset Management.
Users can now begin using the Tinyman platform to trade any Algorand Standard Assets through liquidity pools using their AMM algorithm. You can begin using the platform here.
Login ID secure grant from Algorand Foundation
Login ID announced this week that they have secured a grant from the Algorand Foundation for their FIDO-certified authentication provider. For Algorand developers and enterprises this means utilizing FIDO-certified authentication for a one touch execution of a smart contract, which will not require plugins or downloads to complete. Integration of FIDO also provides the benefit of ‘Transaction Confirmation’, a digital signature and receipt binding the individual’s biometric to the transaction.
“Algorand has really started to accelerate, helping businesses in the DeFi and commerce space, areas where we have expertise and can add a lot of value,” says Jim Brown, CRO and Co-founder of LoginID.
“LoginID will help lower friction and make blockchain technology easier to interact when developers integrate our solution. We have recently seen attacks on standard forms of authentication such as SMS. Our solution will help give Algorand developers the tools to create the most frictionless, secure interactions for their customers.”
You can find out more about the Login ID platform here.
Al Goanna VR auction breaks NFT sales record
NFT project Al Goanna continued its recent explosive growth, setting a new record sale. Al Goanna 222, which depicts the goanna in a “Joker” style costume was sold for 10,100 Algos during a recent auction event on the Al Goanna’s Discord Server.
The buyer was Kyle Wang from investment firm Valhalla Capital who has been a strong Algorand advocate and supporter. The sale marks a significant milestone for the Algorand NFT ecosystem which continues to grow at a breakneck pace due to its rapid transaction finality and carbon neutral properties. The project is also committed to ensuring that it upholds the eco-friendly standards set by Algorand by planting 10 trees per NFT sold. To date this has resulted in the planting of more than 12,500 trees. The trees are planted by Australian company Carbon Neutral in Southwestern Australia and protected by covenant for at least 100 years. You can visit the Al Goanna gallery here.
Algorand named among a suite of new Makor partners
International brokerage giant Makor Group has recently concluded a Series A fundraise in which Algorand was named as a new strategic partner alongside British billionaire Alan Howard. The round values Makor at $USD 200 mil who secured $USD 17 mil in equity some of which will be used to expand Enigma Securities, Makor’s cryptocurrency arm, which recorded monthly trading volumes of more than $USD 2 bil throughout 2021. As part of the partnership, Algorand CEO Steven Kokinos has become a member of Makor’s board. This announcement should result in Makor being able to pour more funding into blockchain development and, by taking advantage of Algorand’s expertise, build and distribute digital assets, helping institutions access crypto products.
Algorand Foundation launch Algorand Centres of Excellence Program
The Algorand Foundation has launched a new initiative called the Algorand Centres of Excellence Program which has been designed to attract university engagement. The program will launch with a budget of 100 million ALGO tokens for the next ten years and encourage universities and non-profit research organizations to apply for funding to cover the cost of the set-up and operations of their centers for three to five years. The Foundation are hoping that the program will help foster the next generation of blockchain enthusiasts during their formative years in tertiary education.
Epoch REPLICANTS Gallery opened
Virtual Reality art gallery Epoch has recently launched its latest collection, REPLICANTS. Inspired by the 1982 science fiction film Blade Runner, REPLICANTS is named after the film’s well-known bioengineered beings. The collection features both 2D and 3D digital works from artists all over the world and is uniquely displayed to potential buyers through their virtual reality-based gallery which can be “walked through” online. The virtual reality gallery is modeled on the real-world Queen’s Road Central in Hong Kong to reproduce the visual style and feel of the Blade Runner film. The entire REPLICANT exhibition will be offered as singular NFTs which will be released on October 29th. The full virtual gallery can be viewed here.
Social messaging wallet Alty migrates to Algorand
The Alty platform this week confirmed that it will be migrating from the Ethereum blockchain to Algorand. Earning acclaim for bringing crypto to popular chat mediums WhatsApp and Telegram, Alty made it possible to transact on the Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains using automation to connect digital wallets to a phone number. The company have made to switch to Algorand as a result of increasing demand and transactions taking place on the platform, creating a need for a more scalable and rapid infrastructure.
“We’re delighted to have partnered with the most forward-thinking organization in the crypto industry,” said Alty’s CEO, Liran Peretz.
“All of the Alty tools that influencers use to manage and monetize their communities have just been upgraded and we’ve instantly seen an increase in user engagement and wallet transactions overnight.”
Because of this partnership, users can send and receive Algorand and its assets as well, using nothing but WhatsApp or Telegram.
Users can set up their Alty Chat Wallet here.
Carnes Validadas receive Algorand Foundation grant
Algorand Foundation this week announced that Carnes Validadas have been named as the latest recipient of the Foundation’s grant. Carnes Validadas is a SaaS platform built on blockchain that allows extended traceability of products on supply chains. This began with their initial product “Origino” which minted one NFT for each cow being traced. To date, meat brands have minted over 30,000 active NFTs, leveraging blockchain traceability. The additional funding from Algorand Foundation will allow the project to continue to ramp-up and bring its offering to an expanded market.
NFTExplorer add rarity rankings to the site
Algorand based NFT hub NFTExplorer has added a function that allows users to track the rarity of an NFT. The site hosts dozens of Algorand based NFT projects where users can track numerous key metrics including sold NFTs, sale price, and now rarity. This project gives users trading in the Algorand NFT ecosystem added security through this validation. The platform can be visited here.
Thank you for reading our maiden edition of the Weekly Pulse as we look forward to bringing more of this content to the Algorand Community. Was there anything that we missed? If so let us know on Twitter, Discord, and Telegram where you can also send us any news you see throughout next week for our next installment.
