About Algorand Protocol
Algorand removes the technical barriers that for years undermined mainstream blockchain adoption: decentralization, scale, and security. Now you can build on a stable platform you trust.
Our consensus mechanism is Permissionless, Pure Proof of Stake. It ensures full participation, protection, and speed within a truly decentralized network. With blocks finalized in seconds, Algorand’s transaction throughput is on par with large payment and financial networks. And Algorand is the first blockchain to provide immediate transaction finality. No forking. No uncertainty.
The era of a decentralized, borderless economy is here. Algorand is the foundation. Now what will you build?
Why is Algorand Such a Unique Blockchain?
Decentralization
The Algorand blockchain is entirely decentralized, which means there is no powerful central authority or single point of control. A unique committee of users is randomly and secretly selected to approve every block. Nodes are run by entities representing diverse backgrounds across many different countries.
Fair & Transparent
Control is distributed among all individual network participants
Accurate
No risk of data being manipulated, lost or destroyed
Secure
Fault tolerant with no special group of users for an attacker to target
Permissionless
Public & Open to All
Users do not need the approval of a trusted authority to use the Algorand blockchain. There is a single class of users and no gatekeepers. Every participant can read every block and have the opportunity to write a transaction in a future block.
Low Cost to Participate
The Algorand platform requires minimal processing power and modest IT resources to join. All online users who possess algos are automatically eligible to participate in block consensus.
Pure Proof-of-Stake
Algorand uses a pure proof-of-stake (PPoS) consensus protocol built on Byzantine agreement. This means the system can achieve consensus without a central authority and tolerate malicious users as long as a supermajority of the stake is in non-malicious hands. The users’ influence on the choice of a new block is proportional to their stake in the system (number of algos). Users are randomly and secretly selected to both propose blocks and vote on block proposals. All online users have the chance to be selected to propose and to vote. The likelihood that a user will be chosen is directly proportional to its stake.
Rewards
In Algorand, the power is in the hands of the users holding stake. Every user receives an amount of rewards proportional to their stake for every block that is committed to the chain. We do so to encourage users to join the Algorand platform and accelerate our path to decentralization.
Open Source
The Algorand node repository is open sourced and publicly available for anyone to audit, use, and build upon. The platform is founded in principles of transparency, inclusivity, and collaboration and maintained by a dedicated community with a shared vision of a decentralized, borderless future.
Protocol Evolution
Algorand is rooted in the idea that the system should allow for changes and avoid inflexible policies—enabling both the community and the protocol to evolve. The Algorand platform takes a consensus approach to protocol changes, which facilitates continuous evolution of the protocol and eliminates potential hard forks that could fracture the community. This ability is powered by the Algorand consensus protocol that enables the users to reach consensus on anything. Not just on the next block, but also on a protocol upgrade.
- Proposed changes are posted on the blockchain
- The community uses Algorand’s consensus protocol to vote to accept or reject the change
- When accepted, the community agrees on the block where the change happens
- Everyone switches to the new protocol at the same time