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.
Pact Announces Mainnet Launch Date
Algorand based AMM Pact this week announced that they will be launching their mainnet platform on February 22nd. The project has been in its testnet phase since January 17th and has received a positive response from the Algorand community. On launch Pact users will be able to perform swaps, use pools, and access analytics.
Algorand Wallet Relaunches as Pera Wallet
The official Algorand Wallet has been relaunched under the name Pera Wallet. In a press release Pera Wallet said, “Despite the fresh new look, the team behind Pera Wallet is the same team that has been building and maintaining the Algorand Wallet for the past 3 years.”
“Hipo, in collaboration with Algorand, has been developing the beloved wallet since its launch in 2019. With this transition to Pera Wallet, Hipo is also taking over operations and partnership integrations, while continuing to design and develop the mobile apps and infrastructure.”
Stoi.org Launches Self Owned Song STOI #2 at ETHDenver
Music tokenization platform Stoi.org has launched a new song on its platform as part of this week’s ETHDenver festivities. The song by artist Jesse Boykins III is titled ‘Honestly, I’m a Treat.’
“Stoi.org is helping me achieve my mission as an artist by bringing even more awareness to the messages I’m sending through my music and allowing me to connect deeper with my fans,” said Jesse Boykins III.
Coral Arena NFT Collection Launched on Aorist
The impressive Coral Arena NFT series has been making an impression on the community launching on fine art NFT platform Aorist. Made by New York based firm OMA and their artists Shohei Shigematsu, Charlotte Taylor and Nicholas Préaud the series features a seamless blending of rigid geometry and the natural beauty of reefs extracted from the short film Coral Arena. Proceeds from the sale of this release will be donated to The ReefLine, an artificial reef, marine habitat, and sculpture park in Miami Beach.
Danish FSA Acknowledges Potential of Blockchain after Research Involving Algorand
The Danish Financial Supervisory Authority (DFSA) have revealed some of their findings on the potential adoption of blockchain in their country. The department has been using Algorand as part of the study which was used to power ZTLment one of the main test protocols.
“Using blockchain could potentially change the way financial services are offered, including how payments are settled. The DFSA works to explore and fulfill this potential in such a way that it is safe and efficient for Danish consumers and businesses to use”,says Tobias Thygesen , who as head of the DFSA’s Fintech, Payment Services and Governance Division is in charge of FT Lab.
“ZTLment’s participation in FT Lab has given the DFSA a good insight into how blockchain can be used in practice to make payments. The DFSA and ZTLment have had a good and constructive process, where both parties learned about the potential and regulation of the technology “, he says.
Kollektor Recieves Grant to Create New Algorand NFT Platform
Kollektor have this week announced that they will be launching a platform that promises to make minting NFTs on Algorand more straightforward than ever. The project have also received a grant for their project which aims to facilitate NFT purchases in a single click with fiat payment options also available.
‘’We’re delighted to support Kollektor’s grant application” said Addie Wagenkneckt of the Algorand Foundation.
“Algorand’s Layer-1 blockchain is scalable, secure, fast, final, low cost and sustainable — making it an ideal platform for NFTs and our partnership with Kollektor.”
“This grant partnership with Kollektor.io will help raise the awareness of Algorand as the blockchain of choice for NFT’s, and provides a great use-case for using Algorand in the art and modelling space.’’
Dequency Closes $4.5M Seed Round Raise
Music licensing platform Dequency has closed a $4.5 seed round led by Borderless Capital. The project which is building a first-of-its-kind decentralized music licensing marketplace, also received support from Endeavor and Riptide Music Group, and individual investors Steve Kokinos (CEO Algorand), Vinny Lingham (Co-founder & former CEO Civic), Lyndon Rive (Co-founder & CEO Solar City), Peter Rive (Co-founder & CTO Solar City), Kimbal Musk (Founder Big Green DAO, board member SpaceX & Tesla), and Tosca Musk (Founder & CEO Passionflix).
“Licensing of music into film, tv, or other applications in 2022 is currently akin to booking travel in 1975; inefficient, rife with unnecessary intermediaries/rent seekers, and closed off to those unable to get through the corporate gatekeepers,” said Dequency Co-founder George Howard.
“At Dequency we are guided by a “purpose, not product” mindset to help creators establish and maintain sustainable careers on their own terms.”
Applied Blockchain Receives Grant from Algorand Foundation
The Algorand Foundation have awarded a grant to Applied Blockchain to assist with building their London Bridge protocol. The London bridge product is set to allow the secure integration of Algorand with other networks such as Ethereum.
“We’ve seen the demand for a secure token bridging solution through the many applications that we’re building for our clients on Algorand,” said Founder and CEO of Applied Blockchain Adi Ben-Ari.
“Liquidity and composability are key benefits of blockchain, and a secure and seamless bridge will increase these for all applications on Algorand.”
“We are very excited to have been selected by Algorand to build this important piece of infrastructure, and we look forward to continuing to work closely with the Algorand team to design and build the most optimal bridging solution.”
Vesta Equity launches real estate-backed NFT platform on Algorand
Vesta Equity has launched a real restate-back NFT platform powered by the Algorand blockchain. The project expressed their confidence in Algorand as the ideal blockchain to build on given its inherent speed, low cost, security, and sustainability.
“Investors can participate by purchasing into the future appreciation of the property and build a portfolio of real estate assets like they do with stocks,” says Vesta CEO Michael Carpentier.
“The model will evolve and adapt to scale-up to other use case applications.”
Vesta expects to have spread across the US within 12 months, after an initial launch in California. Properties in a number of other states will also be available on the platform on launch.
“There will be an education process with homeowners where we will have to explain to them the proposition,” said Carpentier.
Price Watch
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 instalment.