Silvio Micali, Algorand Founder before the start of 2021 shared their approach to measuring performance and the technical innovations behind their performance goals for 2021.

Reportedly, Algorand are continuing to add new functionalities to Algorand and they are improving performance without sacrificing decentralization.

Reportedly more than 500,000 transactions per day are posted on the Algorand blockchain.  And, more than 500 companies are busy developing their applications on Algorand.  The companies are taking advantage of their Layer 1 smart contracts and other functionalities which contribute to an improved Algorand blockchain.

Algorand facilitates smart contracts ASC1 in Layer-1.  Also, the smart contracts in Layer-1 are able to provide numerous possibilities for next generation applications.

They provide for very important use cases like:  “Escrow account creation, Loan payments & Fee Executions, Limit orders, Subscriptions, Collateralized obligations, Regulated & automated disbursements, Programmatic recurring fees / recurring debt, Delegated high-security account management, Interface with off-chain data providers, Cross chain Atomic Transfers, HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit), Decentralized exchanges, Reimbursement validation and Cross chain Atomic Transfers.

When all of these use cases are to be executed without an app and if they have to depend on existing transactions which depend on intermediaries who provide the trust and execution it can be difficult.  Thus, Algorand use cases are finding wide adoption among businesses.

They are thus making possible new business models, which disrupt older economies using efficient and automated transactions and applications, thus permitting for trustless execution of an agreement.

The unique functionality made possible with Algorand is Stateless and Stateful implementation.  For clarity, Stateless is about permitting for the building of complex applications using TEAL. However, Stateful are about executing transactional approvals. Eventually, these are combined with scalability, fast and secure transactions, reduced risk, low cost of execution, law barrier to entry with increased speed to market, flexible implementation with reducing the barrier for entry.

The low barrier to entry is ensured by, “with easier development and simplified templates for Stateless Smart Contracts and examples of different complex custom dApp for Stateful Smart Contracts (i.e. dApps for Voting, Stablecoins, Auctions, Crowdfunding)”

Also, Algorand Standard Assets (ASA) make possible for Layer-1 mechanism to represent any type of asset on the Algorand blockchain. This includes fungible, non-fungible, restricted fungible and restricted non fungible assets.

The most exciting use cases they make possible are asset tokenization, 3rd party asset issuance on Algorand, Democratize access to investments, and Disintermediate cross border transactions.