Algorand Cuts Block Time After New Upgrade

Algorand upgraded its protocol on Thursday to reduce block time, make application development on the network faster, and more cost-efficient.

The proof-of-stake blockchain's upgrade will reduce block time to 3.3 seconds from 3.8 seconds, which is the “largest reduction of block time on a percentage basis,” Algorand Chief Product Officer Paul Riegle told CoinDesk.

The upgrade comes in an increasingly competitive space in which many blockchains have introduced improvements to make themselves more attractive for developers, such as Cardano's latest upgrade this week and BNB Chain’s upgrade last month.

Block time measures how long it takes for the network to produce a new block of transactions.

Other improvements include a simulator that allows developers to test and simulate issues before deploying their codebase to mainnet and a new plugin framework that allows people to create easy, customizable data.

ALGO, the native cryptocurrency for the Algorand blockchain, has increased 4.9% in the past 24 hours to 12.8 cents, according to CoinDesk data.

The upgrade, which incorporated feedback from the developer community, occurs as Algorand’s mainnet nears 30 million block and its four-year anniversary.