Leading Layer 1 Celebrates Four-year Mainnet Anniversary and 30 Millionth Block

Algorand, the pure proof-of-stake Layer-1 blockchain network, continues to deliver the advanced technology required to power real world applications with its latest protocol upgrade that unleashes faster block times, as well as other industry-leading improvements.

Today's protocol upgrade, now live on Mainnet, reduces block time to roughly 3.3 seconds - a more than 10 percent increase in speed - while maintaining instant transaction finality. Algorand's unique ability to instantly finalize transactions, along with other performance enhancements, empowers Algorand-based applications to deliver a user experience comparable to that of traditional Web2 applications while leveraging the security and decentralization inherent in blockchain technology.

This week, the industry-leading protocol also celebrates the four-year anniversary of Algorand Mainnet, and is on track to record its 30 millionth block. Underpinning these achievements is the recognition that Algorand has experienced zero down time since it went live in 2019.

Algorand's latest technical release incorporates valuable feedback from the developer community to ensure application development is faster, more accessible and more cost-efficient. Some of the latest products and enhancements available to builders on Algorand include:

• Simulate: a powerful simulator for smart contracts. Simulate allows developers to rigorously test, identify and rectify any issues ahead of deploying to Mainnet. Simulate also enables highly versatile reading of blockchain data, offering developers a clear and customizable view into the blockchain. For more information on Simulate, please see an overview here.
  
  
• New Developer Capabilities: New features include group resource sharing for application calls, devmode timestamp control for testing dApps and new Algod endpoints for transaction group state updates. More information on these capabilities can be found here.
  
  
• Conduit: a new tool for flexible and lightweight data access. This technology enables developers to run their own data solutions, accessing their specific data needs in a simple, flexible, affordable manner. For more information on Conduit, please see an overview here.

"We are hyper focused on Algorand providing the best tech for developers to engage with and end users to experience," said Paul Riegle, Chief Product Officer at Algorand. "Through these new capabilities, builders can get higher quality dApps to market faster through customized data sets and faster and more efficient testing."

Algorand continues to distinguish itself as a leading blockchain protocol, hitting speeds of 10,000 TPS and supporting quantum-secure interoperability through State Proofs. Today's protocol update also comes on the heels of the Algorand Foundation's launch of AlgoKit, a comprehensive, easy-to-use developer tool suite for building Web3 applications on Algorand.