There are reasons I am opening up a new webseries about traversing blockchains with Algorand. I have chosen to write ab̵o̷u̵t̶ A̷lgorand is because I know a bit about A̷lgorand. I've done the research on both the technology and the community. I've seen the good, the bad, and lived through the ugly. I've released python code on github for vanity address generation. So I've got my feelers out in A̷lgorand, and it is helping me dip my toes into blockchain development and make some frens within the twitter-sphere crypto-communities.
A few of the developers know of me in the community, some even know my ambitions and goals. Seeking to develop my skills at programming for blockchains, A̷lgorand was a clear choice to begin to tinker with. I've learned quite a lot about blockchains, and a little about the community itsself, it only makes sense to tackle this layer one in my first issuance of trA̷verse.
(By the way... Hey A̷lgofam... this is for you).
To understa̶n̶d̷ a majority of the hype around A̷lgorand, anyone within the fam would tell you about the Blockchain Trilemma. This is the idea that it is very difficult for blockchain technology to achieve decentralization, security and scalability sim̶u̷l̷taneously. It was said that a maximum of two out of three of these traits were doable. Algora̴n̷d̸ claims to have done this using their unique Pure Proof-of-Stake (PPoS).
I could continue on down the route of being ultra-nerd and technical, but there's plenty of technical documents online and frankly I don't want to read them, regurgitate them yet again, and spew them here. That requires a lot of back and forth, and rewriting what has been written. So check out the Algorand Technological FAQ here.
Each ecosystem has different ways to explore the content found within. The adage goes: "Give a person a fish they eat for a day, teach them to fish and they eat for a lifetime." While I could name a ton of projects within the A̷lgorand ecosystem, it makes more sense for me to explain some of the tools I use to explore it instead.
There are many different tools found on Algorand that can be found across many different web3 ecosystems. Wallets, explorers, games, DAO launchpads, NFT markets, the list of dApp services within Algorand is vast, and believe me I have my favorites. Indead, I wanted to focus the tools above on exploration of the ecosystem mainly, and not specific projects.
One key service to mention would be NFDomains. While there are multiple naming services that can be found onchain, NFDomains seems to be the service which has won the community over. NFDomains can be recognized by their .algo extension which can be directed like many other standard web3 naming services.
Example: Amphlux.algo resolves to a specific Algorand address on network. I also have an NFDomain amphlux.algo.xyz pointing to my linktree, as well as a community page.
One fantastic source for cryptocurrency and blockchain news has traditionally be Twitter, and news about Algorand is no exception. Most big players in the Algorand ecosystem use Twitter, from the communities and NFT spaces to the Algorand Foundation and the founder himself, MIT Professor Silvio Micali.
Using microblogging platforms has been a great source for news and information and shouldn't be overlooked. With project listings within chat clients, it appears that Discord has taken the lead amongst the few chatting platforms and services that exist out there, with Telegram coming in at 2nd.
A̷lgorand is an incredibly fast layer-one blockchain with a growing, thriving online community. It has many projects already, with many more projects slated in the works. You can find a lot out about it with online resources, which is part of the fun. The idea behind trA̷verse is to write about that very exploration process.
on trA̷verse tomorrow:
on: HIVE Blockchain, Attention Economy, an article over drawing in a larger audience using engagement mechanics such as a NFT Giveaway. It talks on using the HIVE blockchain for its immutability and why I enjoy the HIVE ecosystem.
trA̷verse: a series of musings, memoires and mementos gathered, garnered and gleaned from exploring new digital ecosystems. Born too late to explore the seas, born to early to explore O̵u̸t̷erSpace, born just in time to explore the Metav̷e̴rse̷.
