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Algorand Review: Where to Buy ALGO Crypto in 2026
This Algorand review details how this blockchain is based on its own pure proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus algorithm that hopes to scale in a multi-layer networking stack similar to the internet itself.
Although there is plenty of competition in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space, there are a number of unique properties to Algorand that make it an interesting technical experiment. For this reason, we’ve covered the best places to buy this crypto below, and you can also read how to stake Algorand in our guide.
Algorand Review: Pros & Cons
Pros
Strong founding team, including MIT Professor Silvio Micali. Partnered with many well-known names, including Union Square Ventures
Built on a model of pure proof-of-stake, which takes a layered approach to scalability. Can process up to 1,000 transactions per second
Earn staking rewards for participating in network governance
Cons
Proof-of-stake is still not as well understood as proof-of-work from a security perspective
A lot of competition with other blockchains focused on flexible smart contracts
There is not much liquidity for ALGO on exchanges
Best Exchanges for Buying Algorand
Algorand is available for trading on many of the largest crypto exchanges in the world, and there should be sufficient liquidity if you’d like to move in or out of this asset on one of these platforms. While this asset doesn’t have the volume of more popular coins like bitcoin and ether, tens of millions of dollars worth of ALGO are traded every day on multiple exchanges.
Like many other crypto assets, most of the volume for ALGO trading can be found on Binance and FTX.
Social trading platform where you can trade crypto alongside stocks and assets.
Algorand Ratings
Supply
- Max: 10,000,000,000
Network Speed
- High, 4.5 second block times that will be made faster through future upgrades
Disbursement
- Rating: Low
- Reason: Like many other bitcoin alternatives, Algorand has faced issues when it comes to a fair distribution of their coins. In bitcoin, fair disbursement was made possible through proof-of-work mining to distribute new coins, while many proof-of-stake-based alternatives since then have simply distributed tokens to founders and early investors to bootstrap the network. While Algorand intends to distribute their ALGO tokens as far and wide as possible, this is a difficult task, as many other projects have illustrated. This is especially true when you consider the current concentration of the ALGO supply around Algorand Inc.
Developer Engagement
- Rating: Medium
- Reason: Algorand has been able to gain decent developer engagement similar to other non-Bitcoin projects. The foundation behind the project is granting 250 million ALGO to developers who work on Algorand-related projects over a multi-year period. While this has proven useful for attracting new developers to the crypto project, it’s also a sign that Algorand is rather centralized in its current state. It would be better if these developers were working on Algorand out of their own curiosity rather than needing to be enticed.
Liquidity
- Rating: Low
- Reason: While the ALGO token has been listed on major exchanges, it’s still not one of the major players when it comes to trading volume and liquidity. According to Cryptowatch, there is roughly $70 million worth of ALGO trading that takes place on exchanges every 24 hours. For context, bitcoin trades roughly 1000 times that amount per day. Additionally, general liquidity for ALGO is rather low, as there is only around $4 million worth of bids within 1% of the last trade price across major exchanges at the time of this writing. For bitcoin, that number is around $400 million, in addition to all of the off-chain liquidity that does not necessarily show up on exchanges.
Algorand Review: Company History
Algorand launched in 2019 and is the brainchild of MIT professor Silvio Micali. The goal is to be a blockchain used for payments as transactions finish in four to five seconds, the equivalent of more than 1,000 transactions per second.
Algorand is still a relatively new name in the cryptocurrency ecosystem, and it is mainly backed by the non-profit Algorand Foundation. Funding is used to teach new developers about the cryptocurrency network at well-known universities, including Micali’s MIT. The Algorand Foundation also sponsors regular hackathons to get more developers interested in using this technology, and in 2020 the foundation launched multiple accelerator programs in Asia and Europe.
The original backing behind the company includes a number of prestigious investors, such as Union Square Ventures. Although this project is young, it has already gained a lot of interest from the crypto ecosystem due to its technical achievements.
Advantages of Algorand
The main advantage of Algorand over similar blockchain systems is the speed at which confirmations occur. Currently, it supports a capacity of more than 1,000 transactions per second, and this number is expected to increase over time. Additionally, the blockchain is intended to never split into multiple chains based on a break in consensus, which means these transactions can be finalized much faster than other cryptocurrency networks. Much of the efficiency gains here are due to Algorand’s use of a pure proof-of-stake model.
The importance of having a high quality founder, like Turing Award-winner Silvio Micali, cannot be overstated. While there are many similar projects, none of them have his credibility as a professor at MIT. Many cryptography experts work on Algorand today, but it all started with Micali.
A final advantage of the platform is that it takes a layered approach to scaling. Instead of trying to stuff as much data into the base layer as possible, Algorand combines a layer-one network with a more limited scripting language and a complex layer-two system, which is better suited for complicated smart contracts. This has long been thought to be the best way to scale cryptocurrency systems.
Disadvantages of Algorand
Like many other newer cryptocurrency networks, the advantages of Algorand also come with tradeoffs.
Increasing the number of transactions that can be processed per second also increases the costs associated with being able to operate a node, which also increases the general level of centralization in the system.
Additionally, the developer interest in the project is made possible through funding by the Algorand Foundation, which is another point of centralization for the project. Whenever you’re looking at the technological advantages of a crypto network, it’s important to also consider the potential downsides too.
There are also a large number of competing projects in the area of higher-throughput, more centralized blockchain networks. While Algorand can currently process over 1,000 transactions per second, newer systems, such as Solana, are promising throughput of up to 50,000 transactions per second. Additionally, Ethereum’s transition to ETH 2.0 is expected to increase the numbers of transactions that can be processed per second to between 1,000 and 2,000.
Bitcoin also has a number of different smart contract projects building on top of it on secondary layers, such as Stacks and RSK. Other competitors focused on smart contracts include Binance Smart Chain, Tron, Cardano, and Polygon.
A final disadvantage is that the ALGO token is not that liquid, so you may need to need to pay a bad exchange if you’re trying to move in or out of the asset in large quantities.
Algorand Frequently Asked Questions
It depends on what you mean by potential. Many would say that the metrics associated with Ethereum’s adoption and its underlying ETH cryptocurrency indicate that it has shown great potential to be a big player in the area of smart contracts.
However, in terms of potential for future growth, Algorand may be better because its market cap is still rather low and the project is relatively new. As always, the greater the potential reward for betting on a particular crypto token, the greater the amount of risk.
While Algorand was far from the first project to launch as a proof-of-stake based blockchain, it does differentiate itself from other PoS networks already on the market, such as Cardano. Algorand’s version of PoS is known as Pure Proof of Stake (PPoS).
The main differentiator with PPoS is that there are extremely low requirements for staking on the network. Only 1 ALGO is required to start. While this helps democratize the process, critics also point out that it also likely makes the network less secure.
Yes, it takes a multi-layer approach to smart contracts. On the base layer, smart contracts can only be constructed in a simple manner, while more complex smart contracts are left to the second layer in an off-chain manner. This is an attempt to make acceptable tradeoffs when it comes to the scalability of smart contracts.
Yes. Because it uses pure proof-of-stake, this network could be considered a “green” crypto. The cryptocurrencies that are wasteful and potentially harmful to the environment are those based on proof-of-work, such as Bitcoin. However, the potential negative environmental impacts of proof-of-work cryptocurrencies is largely overblown.
Yes. Algorand works on a system of proof-of-stake, so you are able to earn yield on your ALGO holdings by participating in network consensus. It only takes 1 ALGO to start staking, and the current expected APR is between five and six percent.
The Algorand blockchain is a solid option for small transactions. The base layer can process more than 1,000 transactions per second, and these transactions only take a few seconds to be confirmed. Additionally, even faster and cheaper payment systems can be built on secondary layers of the network.
Of course, a downside of using Algorand payments is that they have to be denominated in ALGO if you want to make the payments in a way that does not reintroduce the counterparty risk associated with the traditional financial system.
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