Algorand node numbers exploding and other crypto news
Jerome Powell signals pro bitcoin stance, a new prediction market and more
Happy Friday! The number of nodes on Algorand is exploding! We’ll put that into perspective along with a few other bits of crypto news to send you off to the weekend.
Algorand nodes explode
The number of Algorand nodes has grown from a few hundred to nearly 4,000 total. Why? Because the Algorand Foundation introduced staking rewards, allowing users with at least 30,000 Algorand (with a staking cap of 70 million) to run a node with Algorand staked and earn rewards.
This screenshot from Nodely on Wednesday showed the number of nodes at more than 3,800. It’s a weekly max snapshot, so the numbers are likely higher considering the growth rate.
Algorand Foundation CTO John Alan Woods said the original assumption was that people would run nodes on their own. That turned out not to be the case. The incentives have gone a long way toward increasing the number of node runners, and thus increasing decentralization.
The number of countries holding Bitcoin is surprising
Jerome Powell says banks can hold Bitcoin
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell says banks can hold Bitcoin at the recent FOMC (Federal Open Market Committee) meeting. This reverses a stance Powell held not that long ago. On Dec. 20 he said banks were not allowed to hold any Bitcoin. Bitcoin price surged on the news.
More countries than you probably think hold Bitcoin
There are a surprising number of countries holding Bitcoin - more than even I thought. Most people in crypto know about El Salvador, but Finland, Bhutan and even the Ukraine own some amount of Bitcoin. The chart below is worth taking a look at.
Algorand prediction market in testnet
The first prediction market on the Algorand blockchain is live on testnet. Alpha Arcade is a prediction market where people can bet on real-life events. They’re supposed to have more predictive value than polls because people bet real money on the results, so they’re motivated to be right. Vegas has typically been better at predicting Presidential races than polls, and prediction markets proved more accurate than polling this time around too.
Van Eck chooses SUI over Aptos
Investment firm Van Eck chose SUI over Aptos in a recent analytics piece on its website. The investment firm chose SUI because of its performance and better potential for scaling. SUI has capabilities that Aptos can’t replicate, the report says.
Be sure to check out
Remember the FrugalBC YouTube channel livestreams nearly every Friday at 12:15 pm CST. Come join us! In addition, FrugalBC is on Twitter/X and Kick.
Want to maximize your safety in crypto? Check out Ledger:
Non-Fungible Domains: Turn your long complicated wallet address into an easy to remember .algo address for a one-time, affordable fee.
MARCUS: Follow the memecoin and NFT project based on Marcus Aurelius (in this case, Marcus Furrelius) built on the Algorand blockchain.