Since launching its Alliance for Prosperity earlier this year, open payment platform Celo has quickly emerged as an apparent rival to Facebook’s Libra stablecoin project. Cointelegraph spoke to Konstantin Richter, the CEO and founder of Celo alliance member Blockdaemon, to learn about the experience of working on Celo from its beginnings and get his take on what the Celo ecosystem will look like in the near future. Blockdaemon launched in 2017, comprising a blockchain infrastructure and node provider targeting developers and enterprises. While Richter noted that the 2018 bear trend had a significant impact on many of the firm’s clients, …

Crypto tax provider Verady has announced a partnership with Algorand (ALGO) to offer integrated accounting to ALGO holders. Verady also revealed that its technology is being used by Algorand and Blockchain.com for their internal accounting and auditing. Verady integrates ALGO into tax platform Speaking to Cointelegraph, Verady’s co-founder and chief executive, Kell Canty, stated that the new partnerships are the product of several months of discussions between the firms. The agreement with Algorand has seen Verady integrate ALGO into its software. Canty stated that “ALGO Holders will be able to associate multiple wallets with their Ledgible account in an easy …

Props Project, a decentralized network of apps including Dating.com, is migrating from a private blockchain to Algorand (ALGO). Props’ network of independent apps uses Props Token as a reward mechanism. Currently it has over three million users across various apps. The company developed PropsChain, a private fork of Ethereum that currently handles 50,000 transactions an hour. No need to sacrifice However, to achieve greater scalability and transparency, the company decided to move to Algorand’s public blockchain. Algorand CEO Steven Kokinos told Cointelegraph that Algorand was unlike “first generation blockchains” in that it does not have to sacrifice scalability for security …

The Algorand (ALGO) project has developed a new cryptographic primitive called Pointproofs. The team believes they are a significant improvement to the Merkle proofs used in many blockchain systems. Cointelegraph spoke with Sergey Gorbunov, Algorand’s head of cryptography, to learn more about the paper that he and his team published on April 19. A major development for stateless blockchains Smart contract blockchains like Algorand and Ethereum (ETH) rely on sharing a common state, which is the sum of all account balances and smart contract variables that define the blockchain. A major issue with this approach is that the state tends …

Blockchain investment company Eterna and venture capital fund Borderless Capital have teamed up to launch Eterna Borderless Venture Studio, to support projects on the Algorand platform. The aim is to drive adoption and growth by providing tools and resources to decentralized app — or DApp — developers and entrepreneurs. Startups are eligible to receive funding up to $100,000, with Borderless Capital able to offer a follow-up investment of up to $2 million for companies that emerge as category-leading businesses. The venture studio includes student groups from some of the world’s more prestigious universities — including Oxford, Cambridge and Imperial College …

Australian startup Meld Gold will launch a blockchain-based platform for tokenized gold trading in the third quarter of 2020. Meld Gold said the platform will offer a digital method to buy and sell physical gold that is more efficient and transparent than traditional gold markets. Unlike other gold-backed tokens, the issuer doesn’t have a stash of gold in its own custody — rather each token represents one gram of gold held across different companies in the network, including the Melbourne Mint. Meld Gold to launch platform on Algorand The original prototype platform was built on Ethereum (ETH) in mid-2019, but …

Proof-of-stake cryptocurrency platform Algorand has created a global survey intended to compile an open database on the spread, status, and symptoms of the COVID-19 pandemic. On March 27, the company tweeted that its ‘IReportCovid’ survey app will contribute to a global data repository that updates in real-time to inform about pandemic relief efforts. Algorand launches survey to build global coronavirus database In a blog post, Algorand states the initiative seeks to address the lack of real-time data about the pandemic coming from individuals in the community. Survey responses are publicly posted to the Algorand blockchain to allow permanent open access …

The 2020 Chess Candidates Tournament in Ekaterinburg, Russia has been postponed due to the coronavirus, but organizers are already looking to the future and how blockchain can give the sport a boost. The tournament pitted eight grandmasters against each other for the right to take on world champion Magnus Carlsen, but had to be halted after seven rounds when news emerged Russia was about to suspend international flights indefinitely. World Chess told Cointelegraph it was examining moving matches online and introducing blockchain technology. Opportunity for chess Ilya Merenzon, CEO of World Chess, the company that organized the last world championship …