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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. For more from Algopulse visit https://www.algopulse.io/.
Folks Finance TVL Growth
Folks Finance have taken the DeFi ecosystem by storm this week by achieving the greatest TVL growth of any protocol in the entire cryptocurrency industry according to DeFi Lama. As reported by CryptoDiffer the TVL of Folks Finance has remarkably increased by 526% to a total in excess of $67m USD. The Italian project has recently been dominating headlines around Algorand for its liquid governance option that allow users to participate in governance while still holding onto their ALGOs. Folks solves this problem with their gALGO token, minted one-to-one with committed ALGO used in governance. Users can use their gALGO freely in the ecosystem to perform a wide range of DeFi activities.
Algorand Launches Green House Hacks with Gitcoin
Algorand has announced it has partnered with Gitcoin for a new hackathon series called Green House Hacks. This will be a global bounty program with multiple hacks taking place over 5 week blocks. Submitted projects will be assessed by both the community (via a quadratic voting process) and a panel of specially selected judges from the Algorand Ecosystem. Successful projects will be given rewards as well as additional opportunities in the ecosystem such as pathways, grants, and accelerator funding. The first of the Greenhouse hack starts Monday the 18th of July with registrations open here.
Algorand Publish CDBC Paper
Algorand has this week published a new research paper detailing how CBDCs are unfolding at central banks around the world. The paper explores a hybrid CBDC model, built on a private instance of a public blockchain such as Algorand, in a two-tier retail system. In this model, central banks have full control over the CBDC, while simultaneously enabling licensed service providers (LSPs) such as commercial banks, remittance providers, and other fintech companies, to facilitate distribution and transactions. Compared to traditional systems, blockchain-based retail CBDCs also promote broader financial inclusion, especially for those in the informal economy who might face difficulty opening a conventional bank account. You can read the full paper and findings here.
Alberto Cribiore of Citi Joins Algorand’s Board of Directors
Algorand have this week announced that Citi Bank’s Alberto Cribiore has joined their Board of Directors. The vastly experienced economist serves some of Citi's largest and most important clients, interfacing with CEOs and Board of Directors of global companies, governments and central banks to ensure that Citi can provide them with best-in-class advice and services. "Blockchain technology will rewire the financial infrastructure that supports the global economy and change financial services dramatically,” Cribiore said.
“As an Algorand board member, I will contribute my experience in traditional finance to help bring Algorand's technically superior blockchain innovation to the world at scale."
Decentralized Real Estate Slice Space Announced
Slice Space has announced itself as the latest protocol looking to tackle decentralized real estate ownership on the Algorand blockchain. On the protocol, users will be able to invest in partial ownership of real estate assets on the blockchain and earn yield as the value appreciates over time. Commercial building owners can list tokenized versions of their properties to SliceSpace and tap into the liquidity it provides.
Agrotoken Expands Visa Partnership With Agriculture Sector Payment Card
Agrotoken this week announced that it has developed a card designed for the agricultural sector in partnership with Pomelo and Algorand. Agrotoken is utilizing Pomelo as the infrastructure to issue, distribute and process payments made with the card while Algorand will be leveraged as the underlying operating system.
“Integrating Pomelo and Algorand into this existing partnership with Visa shows the versatility of our cryptoassets,” said Agrotoken CEO Eduardo Novillo Astrada.
“Agrotoken is here to change the agricultural sector, not only in Argentina, but in the whole region, and this is possible thanks to various companies and platforms that supported us and our expansion into new horizons.”
Algorand Governance Registration Closes
The registration for the fourth period of Algorand governance has officially closed with more than $4 billion ALGOs staked across the various participants. Now that the registration window has closed the Foundation will reveal the details of each proposal over the coming days with the voting period itself set to conclude on October 1.
Metrika Partners with Algorand
“As blockchain networks grow, they become more decentralized. This introduces significant challenges for the community when it comes to maintaining the network’s health and preserving trust,” said CEO of Metrika Nikos Andrikogiannopoulos.
“We’re thrilled that Algorand is leveraging the Metrika platform to monitor and help manage the performance of its entire network. With this enhanced integration, Algorand can keep its focus on building the best possible technology and continue driving the adoption of its network.”
DRL Takes Home Technology Prize in Hashtag Sports Awards
Algorand commercial partner the Drone Racing League has taken home the Best Use of Technology award at the Hashtag Sports Awards ceremony this week in Las Vegas. As part of its arrangement with DRL Algorand provides blockchain based solutions for a number of initiatives which played a heavy role in this successful bid.
“DRL blazed sports into the metaverse through their partnership with Algorand, the leading high-performance blockchain platform, to create a digital drone racing series in Web3, NFTs for ticketing and blockchain-powered fan experiences,” the Hashtag Sports Awards said.
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. For more from Algopulse visit https://www.algopulse.io/.
