Algorand: the new partnership for crypto

08.05.2023

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Algorand, a Layer 1 blockchain focused on environmental sustainability and scalable transaction execution, has announced a strategic partnership with Onramp Money, a leading provider of fiat-crypto solutions, to simplify the user experience for Indian users in the Web3 world.

With this alliance between the two parties, the Indian population will finally be able to purchase ALGO coin and many other cryptocurrencies using fiat currencies.

Algorand’s foundation is also moving towards using its technology for charitable purposes to facilitate the flow of goods and capital to the American areas most affected by environmental disasters.

Let’s take a look at the details of this latest news for Algorand and how the ALGO coin is faring in the crypto market.

Summary

Algorand and crypto partnership with Onramp Money
Corporate Social Responsibility of the Algorand Foundation
Technical analysis of Algorando crypto (ALGO)

Algorand and crypto partnership with Onramp Money

On 2 May, Algorand announced that it had entered into a partnership with Onramp Money, a fiat-to-crypto solutions provider, to make cryptocurrency more accessible to the Indian population.

It is estimated that India, which is expected to overtake China as the most populous country this year, will be a target market for blockchain and crypto in the coming years.

However, the technological barriers and complexities of the DeFi world and decentralised applications are a hurdle to overcome to achieve mass adoption in this context.

The integration with Algorand’s Onramp Money, an open-source blockchain focused on scalability and the concept of carbon neutrality, will simplify the experience for Indian users looking to purchase the ALGO coin and other cryptocurrencies on the market.

The Algorand network, which has a two-layer structure capable of near-instantaneous transactions and sub-cent commissions, will make it possible to exchange between Indian rupees and major cryptos.

The Indian payment system UPI, developed by the National Payments Corporation of India, will be integrated into the Algorand ecosystem to facilitate fiat-to-crypto transactions.

Indians can now buy $USDC #USDC over @Algorand using local payment methods #UPI and #IMPS #Algorand @circle https://t.co/FVdMFeYYnx pic.twitter.com/iap69KW2l0

— Onramp (@onrampmoney) April 28, 2023

Anil Kakani, India Country Head at Algorand Foundation, shared his views on the partnership between the two parties:

“India has played a ‘back office’ role in the development of Web2 solutions, but we see the country as an innovation hub for the future of Web3.

To get there, we need to provide an easy-to-use Onramp for Web3, which is why we are excited about our partnership with Onramp. Initiatives like this will help bring new technologies to ordinary people, driving deeper adoption of blockchain and democratising access to both capital and markets”.

In the future, we’ll see if this collaboration proves successful for the adoption and development of the web3 world in India, and whether the next decentralised applications of the future, capable of competing with the American and Chinese tech giants, will emerge from there.

In the meantime, the road is paved.

Corporate Social Responsibility of the Algorand Foundation

Algorand has always stood out as a network attentive to the world’s environmental issues and the socio-cultural needs of its stakeholders, integrating the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) into its business philosophy.

This can be seen on Algorand’s website, where the environmental sustainability part is central, especially when referring to the ‘pure proof-of-stake’ consensus mechanism, capable of generating a distributed consensus among the network nodes, while maintaining near-zero CO2 emissions.

At a time when “proof-of-work” is seen as a problem for the globe, the decision to focus on sustainability could be a winning one for the team led by Silvio Micali, CEO and founder of Algorand and a university professor at MIT.

These days, Bitcoin miners, a protocol that ‘pollutes’ much more than Algorand, risk being taxed by the US government with 30% of the energy costs used to keep the hardware running, as compensation for the environmental damage caused.

Layer 1 Algorand, on the other hand, aims to spread its carbon-neutral blockchain infrastructure more and more, offering its background to facilitate the exchange of resources within the planet, even without the purpose of economic return.

In this respect, the launch of the Kare Survivor wallet was announced a few days ago, in partnership with Disaster Services Corporation, National Voad and AID Tech, to facilitate the delivery of essential goods to the US areas most affected by environmental disasters, such as Tennessee and Florida.

We’re excited to announce the launch of the Kare Survivor Wallet w/ @svdpusadisaster, @NationalVOAD, and @aidtechnology. With funding from @RedCross, this platform uses @Algorand to facilitate and expedite delivery of critical goods to families in disaster-stricken areas. ? pic.twitter.com/IRJvotA0cV

— Algorand Foundation (@AlgoFoundation) May 3, 2023

Families in need can use a mobile app to request and receive essential goods directly from Amazon in less than 24 hours, after verifying their identity and redeeming credits.

Traditional end-to-end solution providers typically take months to provide this transportation, at a higher cost.

The American Red Cross, which is funding the project, has publicly stated:

“As the frequency and severity of natural disasters increase, we are not only looking for ways to incrementally improve our response and recovery capabilities, we are investing in revolutionary solutions that could disrupt current methods”.

Commenting on the initiative, Matt Keller, Head of Impact at the Algorand Foundation, said:

“While Algorand’s blockchain offers unprecedented levels of transparency, security and efficiency in distributing aid to those who need it most, the ability to do so at scale is the most promising feature. I envision a future where blockchain-enabled identity verification uplifts and empowers a billion people, and this is just the beginning”.

Technical analysis of Algorando crypto (ALGO)

The ALGO coin is unfortunately not positively affected at the price level by the team’s efforts to improve the infrastructure and use the chain as a provider of payment and asset transport solutions.

The chain’s TVL is also very low compared to the rest of the networks in the DeFi sector, as Algorand is less developed in terms of decentralised applications and more focused on US institutional relationships.

ALGO is currently trading at $0.167 per coin, with a market cap of $1.2 billion and a volume of around $40 million over the last 24 hours.

Looking at the weekly chart, we can see that the crypto is in a price distribution phase that has lasted since November 2021, a period sanctioned as the top of this year’s bull market. Since then, ALGO has steadily lost value, reaching a drawdown of over 90%.

However, the coin may be nearing a bottom, both because of the brief recovery on the macroeconomic front and because prices are in a strong support zone on a mainly technical level.

On the other hand, a weekly close below the $0.15 threshold could trigger a continuation of the bearish pattern for ALGO, which has never reached such levels, except at the Covid-19 peak in March 2020, before the price rally that multiplied its value by almost X20.

It seems difficult to imagine a future for ALGO below $0.1 per coin, although, as we all know, nothing is impossible in the crypto world: if Algorand improves on the DeFi front and the adoption of its own technologies, its cryptocurrency could breathe again by selling some healthy green on its chart.