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Welcome to the latest edition of the Weekly Pulse, a weekly Algorand news wrap-up segment presented by Algopulse. As ever, we welcome your feedback so if there is anything you would like us to add, please let us know on Twitter, Discord, or Telegram.
First Algorand Community Governance Vote Concludes
The first Algorand community governance vote has concluded with the Algorand community choosing the method of governance reward distribution that should be employed. Participants could vote for either A: a simplified commit and vote model with no slashing or stake penalties — or B: a higher annual reward pool but with 8% slashing for governors who did not maintain their commitment or failed to vote. Ultimately the vote fell the way of Option A, winning by a margin of 57% to 43%. The conclusion of this vote marks the largest on-chain vote in the history of blockchain with over 52,000 unique accounts taking part.
Scaramucci Doubles-Down on Algorand During TV Interview
SkyBridge Capital Founder Anthony Scaramucci has doubled down on his bullish position on Algorand with a bold statement on CNBC program the Halftime Report comparing Algorand to Google.
“The Skybridge research department thinks that Algorand actually has the opportunity to potentially flip Ethereum: it’s faster, has lower transaction charges,” said Scaramucci.
“As that community develops, I think we’re sitting on something like Google.”
“You and I are old enough to remember when Alta Vista and AOL were the leaders at the nascent stages of the internet and they were trumped by Google.”
“So something like Algorand is something we’re putting a lot of money and resources in.”
Miami Partners with PlanetWatch for Air-Quality Monitoring Solution
As was announced by Miami Major Francis Suarez during last week’s DeCipher event, the city of Miami has partnered with PlanetWatch to become the first United States city to provide air quality monitoring data to its citizens. The French-based firm leverages the Algorand protocol to develop software that powers air quality sensors.
“We are thrilled that PlanetWatch has selected Miami as the first US city in which they will deploy a network of air quality sensors,” said Major Suarez.
Miami is striving to become a green city through policies like the ‘Miami Forever Climate Ready’ initiative, and it is hugely exciting that innovators like PlanetWatch and Algorand are coming here to implement major sustainable technology in the US.”
“Algorand is a carbon-negative blockchain, and the data from this project will play a crucial role in our climate adaptation efforts as well as our ambitions to make Miami an epicenter for digital capital markets.”
Borderless Capital Launch new $500 Million Algorand Fund
Another major announcement that came during DeCipher was Borderless Capital’s confirmation of a new $500 million Algorand fund to finance the next wave of projects in the ecosystem. The news was confirmed by Borderless Capital CEO David Garica during his appearance on the “Growing the Algorand Ecosystem” panel alongside Anthony Scaramucci, Michael Arrington, Matt Zhang, and Sean Ford.
First DeCipher a Huge Success for Algorand
It has now been just over a week since the conclusion of Algorand’s DeCipher conference in Miami with the event proving to be a rousing success. With dozens of notable speakers appearing, the event had no shortage of highlights or big announcements. You can read back over the full details from both day 1 and day 2 here as well as watch replays of full conferences here.
Algorand Partners with Pocket to Expand Node Network
Algorand has partnered with Pocket to facilitate the addition of over 10,000 global node runners to the Algorand network. The Pocket protocol will be implemented to ensure expansion on this scale with robust tokenomics.
Matt Zhang Launches $1.5 Billion Crypto Fund With Algorand Named as Principal Partner
In one of DeCipher’s biggest announcements, former CitiBank executive Matt Zhang has launched a new $1.5 billion crypto fund called Hivemind. Algorand has been nominated as the fund’s first technology partner.
“We believe blockchain technology is a paradigm shift, and we are still in the early innings. Our mission is to provide start-to-finish capital and infrastructure solutions to visionary entrepreneurs and category-defining crypto projects,” Zhang said in the press release.
Smile Coin Makes Statement of Intent Regarding Platform
Smile Coin has this week boldly stated its intent to become a replacement for PayPal. In an interview with Cointelegraph co-founder Nick Bucheleres stated “There is an obvious and growing gap between businesses that operate legally, and those which cronies like PayPal and Visa are willing to offer services to. We are pleased to announce the Smile Coin payment gateway: the PayPal killer.”
Algofi Close $2.8 Million Seed Round Close
Algorand based stablecoin protocol Algofi announced during DeCipher that it has secured $2.8 million in seed round funding spearheaded by Union Square Ventures, Arrington XRP Capital, and Pillar VC. The platform is set to launch on mainnet in December and act as a crypto native bank powered by DeFi.
“Decentralized lending opens the door to the new financial system, but one of the barriers for participants has been high transaction costs and slow networks,” said John Clarke, co-founder at Algofi. “Because Algofi is built on Algorand, we can offer transactions that cost less than $0.01, compared to $15 or more on other networks. In the long term, we can trust our protocol will scale with the growing number of transactions as the retail and institutional communities embrace DeFi.”
Stitch Bob Launches Charity Auction Initiative
Popular NFT artist Stitch Bob who is also behind the MNGO and Yieldlings has launched a new initiative to raise money for St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. This auction is the first of what is set to be an annual event featuring some of Algorand’s most popular awards in Christmas settings. The auction will take place on Rand Gallery and is set to open on December 12th.
Thank you for reading this week’s edition of the Weekly Pulse as we look forward to continue bringing this content to the Algorand Community. Was there anything that we missed? If so let us know on Twitter, Discord, or Telegram where you can also send us any news you see throughout next week for our next installment.
