The strength of a project lies in its team

In the recent Tweet from Daren (@Bmorecmome), I found a related comment from Coin Trades (@coin_trades) stating, that

The strength of a project lies in its team.  👏🏻 👏🏻 👏🏻

And I absolutely agree with that, so that inspired me to write this article about the Algorand superior team full of experts and great minds. Surely, there are other cryptocurrencies and blockchain projects with awesome teams, but let me go straight into the topic I prepared for you today!

Algorand blockchain

Let me start by describing, what Algorand is and what it already brought into the crypto space.

Algorand is an open public blockchain for smart contracts, which is using randomness in the selection process of both the new block creators and verifiers. Algorand is for those processes using Verifiable Random Functions, which are co-invented by Algorand founder Silvio Micali.

By using randomness, the so-called Blockchain trilemma is reached. Algorand blockchain is scalable, secure, and decentralized at the same time. By the possibility to use Layer2, the scaling solution is even more effective.

Algorand is using for its own native token ALGO. By using Pure Proof of Stake (PPoS) algorithm to conclude network consensus, which makes all the users with an active account and minimum balance of 1 ALGO possible to propose and vote for a new block. This is the maximal portion of decentralization in the consensus mechanism!

Algorand has low computational complexity and fast block finality. Together with very fast and very cheap transactions comparing to some Proof of Work blockchains, ALGO is suitable for a transaction system much more than Bitcoin or Litecoin.

Algorand team: Business leaders included

Not just by great mathematicians, developers, and university professors is made a great team. If someone wants to succeed in this competitive blockchain era, one needs to have in the team business leaders and top marketing experts. That is a fact.

The CEO of Algorand is Steve Kokinos, who was a co-founder of companies such as Fuze, BladeLogic, WebYes. In Fuze, which has at this moment over 700 employees, he worked as Executive Chairman, and under his direction, the company transformed the way enterprises view collaboration as a key driver of business visibility, process improvement, and results.

Actual COO W. Sean Ford joined Algorand from LogMeIn, where he was the Chief Marketing Officer responsible for global marketing strategy, product marketing, communications, e-commerce, brand leadership, and demand generation.  Before that, Sean worked in companies such as Zmags, Syncsort, Global Business Unit, Oracle, and Upromise, which he co-founded.

Algorand development team: How everything began?!

The development part is very important in each blockchain project without a doubt. What would be Ethereum without Vitalik Buterin, EOS without Dan Larimer, or Polkadot without Gavin Wood? So here is where the fun all begins. With Silvio Micali

Do you know how Algorand was created?

When Silvio Micali realized, how blockchains are using so much of his own research topics, from byzantine agreements to zero-knowledge proofs, he made a decision. He went to his office, he locked himself there for several months and created a concept of Algorand! The solution to the recent problems of the blockchains. Algorand solves the „blockchain trilemma “, a term mentioned firstly by Vitalik Buterin.

Brilliant minds of Algorand

Silvio Micali

I mentioned Silvio Micali, the founder of Algorand. But who is it, really?

Silvio Micali is the university professor of the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at MIT, where he teaches since 1983. Silvio’s focus is on cryptography, pseudorandom generation, zero-knowledge, secure protocols, and blockchain.

Silvio is the first introducer of probabilistic encryption (together with Shafi Goldwasser, 1984) the co-inventor of Zero-Knowledge Proofs (again with Shafi Goldwasser, 1989), Verifiable Random Functions (together with Michael O. Rabin and Salil P. Vadhan, 1999), and many of the protocols, which were used as the foundations of modern cryptography.

Silvio Micali, founder of Algorand

In 2017, Silvio Micali put all his work together and founded Algorand. A fully decentralized, secure, and scalable blockchain providing a platform for building products and services for a borderless economy.

Silvio Micali received the Turing Award in 2012 for his work in cryptography, the Gödel Prize in 1993 for the theoretical computer science, and the RSA award in 2004 for excellence in Mathematics.

Shafi Goldwasser

Professor Goldwasser´s work goes along with Silvio´s, they work together for many years and they both get awarded by the Turing Award and the Gödel Prize, she is also the owner of the Franklin Medal and many other rewards. Both professor Goldwasser and Silvio Micali are members of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. At this moment, Shafi Goldwasser is a scientific advisor in Algorand.

Paul Milgrom

Paul Milgrom is a university professor at Stanford University, focusing on game theory and especially auction theory and pricing strategies. Paul Milgrom received the Nobel Prize in Economy this month, for his improvements in auction theory and inventions of new auction formats. Milgrom was also named a 2020 Distinguished Fellow of the American Economic Association. In the past, he also received some other awards including the Nemmers Prize in 2008, the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in 2012, the Golden Goose Award in 2014, the CME Group-MSRI Prize in Innovative Quantitative Applications in 2018, and the John J. Carty Award for the Advancement of Science in 2018.

Paul Milgrom joined the Algorand team one month ago as an economic advisor. Paul Milgrom stated to this:

“I am honored to be advising one of the most advanced and high performing blockchain platforms available today,” said Dr. Milgrom. “It is thrilling to be a part of a visionary team that is delivering on what may lead to widespread blockchain adoption. I look forward to bringing my experience and knowledge to advance Algorand and the community it serves."

Conclusion

I am a huge fan of blockchain projects and crypto-related projects. From my knowledge, I am sure, that a strong cryptographic developer team is so important at least as the leading business team, maybe even more important. In crypto projects, the usecase and the unique niche of the projects are the measures of success, along with completing tasks and following the road map.

But I don’t know any other project besides Algorand, who has in its own center one Nobel Prize laureate and two Turing award winners! I follow Algorand for quite some time so I can say that they have great technology, but the human resources in the Algorand projects are outstanding!