Algorand signs partnership deal with FIFA

Algorand (ALGO) has teamed up with FIFA to become the football organization’s official blockchain partner. The blockchain will be a “regional supporter” for North America and Europe at this year’s World Cup in Qatar and an official sponsor of next year’s Women’s World Cup. Apart from becoming FIFA’s official blockchain platform, Algorand will also offer the organization a blockchain-supported wallet solution. ALGO token has surged over 20% after the deal.

According to the press release, Algorand will also become a FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 regional supporter in North America and Europe. Additionally, the blockchain network will become the official sponsor of FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2023.

Algorand will also help FIFA develop its digital assets strategy. While the organization did not reveal details about its digital assets strategy, it mentioned the blockchain’s use for the untampered exchange of value and assets like NFTs.

Algorand will get benefits like advertising, media exposure, and promotional opportunities under this agreement.

“We are delighted to announce this partnership with Algorand. The collaboration is a clear indication of FIFA’s commitment to continually seeking innovative channels for sustainable revenue growth for further reinvestment back into football ensuring transparency to our stakeholders and worldwide football fans – a key element of our Vision to make football truly global. I look forward to a long and fruitful partnership with Algorand,” said FIFA’s President Gianni Infantino.

Invented by MIT Professor Silvio Micali and launched in 2019, Algorand markets itself as a “Pure Proof-of-Stake” blockchain and the only blockchain network to have solved the so-called Blockchain Trilemma to achieve high scalability or throughput without sacrificing on security or decentralization. The network can currently process over 1,200 transactions per second, with plans to scale to 3,000 in the immediate and 45,000 transactions per second in the more distant future.

In reality, however, Algorand processes around 12.3 transactions per second on average, or roughly the same as Ethereum’s mainnet, meaning the network is severely underutilized. Furthermore, despite launching around the same time as Solana and earlier than newer Layer 1 blockchains like Avalanche and NEAR, Algorand has failed to build a thriving DeFi ecosystem.

According to data from DeFi Llama, Algorand has around $175 million in total value locked in DeFi apps in its ecosystem, with over 60% of it locked in a single dApp, Algofi, compared to Solana’s $6.1 billion, Avalanche’s $9.47 billion, and Near’s $472 million.

(Source: TradingView )

As a result of this partnership, Algorand’s native ALGO tokens surged more than 20% in the past 24 hours, CoinGecko data shows. Prices rose to as high as $0.73 from Monday’s $0.59, breaking resistance at the $0.60 level.

Futures activity showed a nominal $1.3 million in liquidations in the past 24 hours, suggesting the rally was primarily led by spot ALGO. Some $867,000 in shorts, or bets against a price move upward, were liquidated.