Algorand (ALGO) is a proof of stake blockchain created by Silvio Micali, a Turing Award winning cryptographer at MIT, and launched in 2019. It is designed to offer speed, security and decentralisation without trade offs. Its pure proof of stake consensus selects validators at random, and blocks are finalised in a few seconds with no chance of forks. Algorand supports smart contracts, tokens and stablecoins, and is used for payments, tokenised assets and digital identity. ALGO is the native currency, used to pay fees, to take part in governance and to earn rewards through staking.