I was a bit late to cover the latest Algorand Community Call. I saw little buzz about it, so assumed not much happened.

I was wrong.

Algorand’s CMO, Marc Vanlerberghe, made a pretty big announcement, though it was mostly a hint: The Foundation would be likely be raising its fee structure.

He hinted that was part of the Foundation’s Project King Safety paper, which is undergoing approvals right now. It is supposed to address the sustainability issue Algorand has.

What does that mean? To break it down:

  • Algorand Foundation is spending much more than it brings in via on-chain revenue. To cover the gap, the Foundation has been selling Algorand.

  • That introduces downward price pressure. Algorand holders have been feeling that.

  • But it also is unsustainable. There is a 10 billion ALGO supply cap. And 8.6 billion is already in circulation.

  • My calculations show at best the Foundation has two years.

  • Former Algorand CTO John Woods told me the Foundation brings in about $2 million per year. And that was in better times, with a higher priced token.

  • The Foundation recently announced it laid off 25% of its staff. That reduces the burn side.

  • But now Vanlerberghe in the Wednesday Community Call hinted that Project King Safety would include a fee increase.

So in other words, Algorand reduced its burn rate and is increasing its revenue via increased fees.

Hedera did the same recently, on both counts. Neither seemed to have much negative impact.

The Algorand Foundation just took steps to help ensure that won’t be the case for some time.

Will it work? We’ll see.

Utility crypto news this week

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