Algorand

ALGO is the native coin of Algorand, a proof-of-stake blockchain for payments and tokenised assets.

Algorand is a public blockchain founded in 2017 by Silvio Micali, an MIT computer scientist. Its main network produced its first block on 11 June 2019. ALGO is the network's native coin: it pays transaction fees, and holders use it to take part in consensus, the process that agrees on new blocks.

Algorand uses pure proof of stake. The protocol randomly picks block proposers and voting committees, weighted by how much ALGO each account holds online. Since January 2025, accounts with at least 30,000 ALGO that propose a block receive half of its fees plus a bonus funded by the Algorand Foundation. Staked ALGO stays in the owner's wallet and is not locked or slashed.

ALGO has a fixed maximum supply of 10 billion, and about 9.06 billion were in circulation in September 2026. The Algorand Foundation held about 1.04 billion ALGO at the end of June 2026 and sells some of it under published, rules-based limits. It publishes quarterly transparency reports. In 2026 the Foundation took over protocol development from Algorand Technologies, moved back to the United States, and appointed a new CEO, William Herkelrath.

The network has processed more than 3.6 billion transactions. It is used for payments, stablecoins and tokenised assets, including humanitarian aid payments in Afghanistan through HesabPay. Its DeFi sector is small, about $36 million in September 2026. In March 2026 the US SEC named ALGO as a digital commodity rather than a security.