Wormhole Launches New Algorand Portal

 NEW YORK, May 17, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Wormhole (https://wormholenetwork.com/), the generic cross-chain messaging protocol, announced today it has launched support for Algorand, a pure Proof-of-Stake (PPoS) blockchain with an extremely robust decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem. Now, developers can leverage the Wormhole SDK to build decentralized applications (dApps) and protocols that can move value seamlessly across nine major blockchain networks without fees.

The Wormhole protocol underpins the cross-chain Portal Bridge (https://portalbridge.com) for Layer 1 and Layer 2 blockchains including Algorand, Avalanche, Binance Smart Chain, Ethereum, Fantom, Oasis, Polygon, Solana and Terra. When tokens or NFTs are bridged through the Portal Bridge, the origin token is locked in a smart contract while a new Portal-wrapped version of that token gets minted on the target chain. Portal-wrapped tokens can be swapped for assets on the target chain and used to participate in DeFi on the biggest blockchain networks. 

"Wormhole has quickly become one of the largest DeFi networks in the world," said Hendrik Hofstadt, a contributor to Wormhole. "The network plays a key role in enabling liquidity to flow into new ecosystems, which has a profound impact on the growth and expansion of decentralizing protocols, projects, liquidity, governance, and participation. The Wormhole community is excited to welcome Algorand to DeFi's fastest-growing multi-chain liquidity network."

"The integration of Algorand to Wormhole's network is great news for builders of this ecosystem," said Michel Dahdah, co-founder of Rand Labs, a company building infrastructure products on Algorand and contributors to the Wormhole integration. "It will allow us to access all the liquidity that exists outside of Algorand, significantly boosting the TVL of the network." 

Algorand is a Layer 1, pure Proof-of-Stake blockchain. The protocol has experienced zero downtime since launch, helping it become the blockchain of choice for thousands of organizations launching DeFi protocols, NFTs, payment solutions, regulated digital assets, and more. The network supports applications that can scale to billions of participants, all on a high-speed, carbon-negative, secure and stable network.

"Algorand was designed to be fast, low cost, and have immediate finality - which continues to drive significant network adoption in DeFi and the creator economy," said Paul Riegle, Chief Product Officer at Algorand. "The launch of Wormhole support for Algorand enables millions of users from across the blockchain landscape to experience and realize the benefits of Algorand and unlocks a new level of interoperability for our ecosystem."

About Wormhole
The Wormhole Network is a generic message-passing protocol connecting high-value blockchains together, with applications leveraging the messaging layer to facilitate interoperability between ecosystems. Secured by 19 guardians, developers are able to leverage the protocol to send arbitrary data cross-chain including tokens, NFTs, oracle data, governance decisions and more.

About Algorand
Founded by Turing Award?winning cryptographer Silvio Micali, Algorand's high?performing Layer-1 blockchain is unparalleled for bringing fast, frictionless, and inclusive technologies to everyone. Algorand is reshaping every industry?from TradFi and DeFi to new creator economies and beyond. With an extraordinary commitment to interoperability and consistent delivery, its sustainable technology powers more participation, transparency, and efficiency for all. As the technology of choice for 2000+ global organizations, the Algorand ecosystem is transforming the next generation of financial products, protocols and exchange of value. For more information, visit www.algorand.com.

CONTACTS 
Wormhole 
[email protected] 

Algorand 
[email protected] 

SOURCE Algorand