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Verifiably Random Returns: Payments and Real-World Soultions in S2 Premiere

November 1, 2024

General

Written by: Algorand Foundation

Haven't caught the new Verifiably Random episode? The Algorand Foundation's podcast is back with its season two premiere, and it's packed with updates you won't want to miss.

Min, Mark, and John reunite to discuss everything from the upcoming Staking Rewards launch to real-world payment solutions with Immersve and Mastercard. The team dives into the big move from ZTLment and Coinbase Learning Rewards’ impact on the Algorand ecosystem.

If you're short on time but want to stay informed about the latest developments, we've got you covered. Here's what the team discusses in this episode, or you can watch the full conversation here.

Big Changes Coming to Algorand

The team starts with a major announcement: Staking Rewards will launch in December. John shares the go-live date for Staking Rewards, allowing users to earn rewards for block production.

A new peer-to-peer system is next in line, teased to be coming in 2025; this implementation aims to improve network data flow and decentralization.

Payment Solutions Take Center Stage

The conversation shifts to practical applications, highlighting payment solutions live on Algorand, with ZTLment recently moving from Ethereum to Algorand. The European FinTech company’s experience demonstrates the benefits of Algorand's built-in features as they reduced blockchain integration time from 30-50% of engineering efforts to single digits.

The team also discusses the upcoming Pera debit card, developed with Immersve. This implementation lets users spend USDC at any merchant, with an added benefit: unlike traditional crypto cards, users maintain control of their funds and can withdraw USDC back to their wallet at any time.

Ecosystem Growth and User Engagement

The Coinbase Learning Rewards, launched in September, brought hundreds of thousands of new users to Algorand. The initiative partnered with five ecosystem projects - Pera, TinyMan, Folks Finance, Exa Market, and NFDomains - creating a seamless onboarding experience. The high conversion rates between quest stages (80-90%) showed the strength of Algorand's user experience.

Fresh Updates from the Ecosystem

Fred Estante joined to share the latest ecosystem developments. Here are some highlights:

  • CompEx launched Lofty vaults for property token collateral and introduced their platform token and cAlgo, their liquid Staking Token
  • Lofty's marketplace reached USD65 million in total volume, with USD2 million in AMM liquidity
  • Pera Wallet added support for ledger Flex and Stax, while improving their UI

What's Next?

Looking ahead, the team teased two major announcements for the next episode:

  • Complete details about Staking Rewards, including rollout and participation guidelines
  • The launch of a new marketing campaign focused on real-world scale

For those planning to attend DevCon in Bangkok or Web Summit in Portugal, Algorand team members will be present at both events. John will also deliver a keynote at the Staking Summit.

Watch the Full Episode

Want to catch all the details? Watch the full episode on YouTube here, or listen on Apple Podcasts here, or Spotify here.

Mark your calendar for the next episode in the coming weeks, where the team promises to dive deep into staking rewards details and unveil their new marketing campaign.