# Algorand News > Latest ALGO blockchain news ## Posts - [AMA with New Algorand CEO](https://algorandnews.com/community-engagement/ama-with-new-algorand-ceo/): September 23rd, the new Algorand CEO, William Herkelrath, will be answering questions from the community all day long via Reddit. Herkelrath assumed the CEO role on August 31, 2026, succeeding Staci Warden, and brings prior leadership experience from Chainlink, crypto custody firm Curv, and AI automation startup K3 Labs. The event comes shortly after his appointment, which emphasized expanding institutional adoption and advancing Algorand’s post-quantum cryptography capabilities. Ask your questions here: https://www.reddit.com/r/AlgorandOfficial/comments/1wmfmi2/ama_ask_algorands_new_ceo_your_questions/ - [Akita Inu Launch Imminent](https://algorandnews.com/wallets-custody/akita-inu-launch-imminent/): AkitaInuASA, the Algorand-based decentralized social and smart wallet app tied to the AKTA token, is delayed from launch due to a 10-day wait for Google Payments API approval despite having Coinbase onramp clearance. The team is simultaneously advancing features like post-install immutable wallet plugins, Haystack swap support for sub-accounts, send-to-anyone across X/Discord/Telegram/email with MBR fees and referrer claims, and a fundable wallet-well for free smart wallet signups. Additional progress includes a new user-editable Meta contract for syncing app data like QR styles and icons, on-chain AI agents with provenance and delegations at 85%, and guilds for smart wallet group chats with […] - [The Future of AlphaArcade](https://algorandnews.com/defi/the-future-of-alphaarcade/): Alpha Arcade, the prediction market platform built on Algorand, has published a new whitepaper laying out its transformation from a team-operated platform into a fully decentralized, permissionless prediction protocol governed by token stakers. The document, dubbed the Alpha Protocol whitepaper, describes a roughly twelve-month rollout that would progressively hand control of market creation, fee distribution, treasury management, and protocol upgrades to $ALPHA stakers, culminating in a complete governance handoff targeted for September 2027. The end goal, according to the team, is for all protocol code to be open sourced, with audit reports published along the way. The foundation is already live […] - [Agentic Payments & LATAM Leads](https://algorandnews.com/jobs/agentic-payments-latam-leads/): Algorand posted openings for Head of Business Development in LATAM (focused on Argentina and Mexico) and a Strategic Lead for Agentic Payments. Head of Business Development – LATAM Market (Argentina & Mexico) Why it matters to Algorand’s focus: LATAM is arguably the best real-world proving ground for what Algorand is selling. The region has chronic currency instability (Argentina especially), massive remittance corridors (Mexico is the world’s second-largest remittance recipient), and some of the highest grassroots stablecoin adoption anywhere — people there use stablecoins out of necessity, not speculation. That maps directly onto Algorand’s instant-finality, near-zero-fee pitch. Two details reveal the strategy […] - [Canada Clears Tokenized Bank Deposits; VersaBank Tests Them on Algorand](https://algorandnews.com/rwas-tokenization/canada-clears-tokenized-bank-deposits-versabank-tests-them-on-algorand/): Algorand’s post is using today’s CoinDesk headline as a timing hook. Canada’s banking regulator, OSFI, said on September 10 that tokenized deposits are not a new legal product just because they sit on a blockchain. The regulator’s line is simple: it looks at what the product is, not how it is delivered. A bank deposit remains a bank deposit. That matters for Algorand because VersaBank has already been testing Real Bank Tokenized Deposits (RBTDs) on public chains, including Algorand, Ethereum, and Stellar. These are not stablecoins. Each token is meant to represent a $1 CAD or $1 USD demand deposit at […] - [Founding Game Dev + Physicist](https://algorandnews.com/jobs/founding-game-dev-physicist/): Andrew Kotulak, the CEO of PactFi, and a key figure in Algorand DeFi, posted about a side project separate from his main work, seeking two founding team members: a senior game developer skilled in C++/C# and a physicist or astronomer with advanced math expertise. The skill requirements point to a computationally intensive project likely involving game engines, physics simulations, or astronomical modeling, with a bonus for Ethereum familiarity suggesting potential blockchain or crypto integration. Replies show community interest, including tags to game devs and questions about the project’s simulation focus, reflecting his active role in recruiting for innovative tech beyond standard […] - [Algorand's New CEO: William Herkelrath](https://algorandnews.com/people/algorands-new-ceo-william-herkelrath/): Staci Warden announced William Herkelrath as Algorand Foundation’s new CEO, praising his experience, intelligence, and vision while transitioning herself to roles focused on encouragement, enthusiasm, and ecosystem evangelism. Herkelrath, who officially started August 31, 2026, brings expertise from Chainlink, Curv (acquired by PayPal), and co-founding AI automation platform K3 Labs, aligning with Algorand’s push into institutional finance and post-quantum security. The smooth CEO transition after Warden’s nearly five-year tenure highlights the ecosystem’s appeal, with Algorand already running live post-quantum accounts using Falcon signatures and recent board additions including Herkelrath. Who is William Herkelrath? William Herkelrath is a longtime fintech and blockchain […] - [AF Reddit AMA - August 2026](https://algorandnews.com/community-engagement/af-reddit-ama-august-2026/): In August, the Algorand Foundation invited the community to participate in a question and answer session on Reddit. Below is a summary of what was discussed. Here’s the rundown of the August 26 AMA. Panel was Marc Vanlerberghe (CSMO), John Jannotti (SVP Protocol Engineering), Joseph Cecala (Product Marketing), William Beaumont (CPO), and Fred Estante (DeFi/Infrastructure). Agentic commerce / x402 was the biggest theme. Marc said the x402 global competition has drawn 1,000+ developers and 2,000+ endpoints in 30 days, with three dominant use-case categories emerging: micro-tools for agents (document comparison, hashing, IPFS storage), market data for trading agents, and pay-per-use LLM […] - [ZeroSignal Beta Goes Live](https://algorandnews.com/ai-agents/zerosignal-beta-goes-live/): Last week, TxnLab announced the beta launch of ZeroSignal, a decentralized AI inference network that lets users access large models with strong privacy guarantees while allowing hardware owners to earn by contributing compute. Core privacy design splits each request between a relay that sees the user’s address but not the content, and an operator that runs the model without knowing the requester, using passkey-derived self-custodial wallets for account creation with no email or server profile. Access options include browser chat, pointing agents at a proxy, or running personal hardware; payments are pay-per-message via self-custodial balance funded by card or crypto, with […] - [Baby Jays NFT Shuffle Sells Out](https://algorandnews.com/nfts-collectables/baby-jays-nft-shuffle-sells-out/): leif.algo is an iOS developer focused on open source, Swift, and Algorand. He has been actively developing Corvid Labs, which builds open-source tools on Algorand, including an Algo Chat for end-to-end encrypted messaging. His latest endeavor is the Baby Jay NFT collection. Baby Jay features pixel art eggs that hatch into unique bird “pals” with traits like 12 solid colors, 12 rares, hats, clothes, and 7 1/1s after about 24 hours. Corvid announced the sell-out of the Baby Jay public shuffle, a 4096-item NFT drop on Algorand priced at 5 ALGO per entry in less than a week’s time. Corvid plans […] - [ASA Stats v1.0.0 is live](https://algorandnews.com/infrastructure-dev-tools/asa-stats-v1-0-0-is-live/): ASA Stats, an Algorand portfolio tracker, announced a major v1.0.0 release unifying its frontend, widgets, and engine under one version number. The visual overhaul replaces the old MaterializeCSS with DaisyUI/Tailwind, adding 57 themes (most gated behind subscription) while keeping the classic free layout intact. Widgets are now fully decoupled from the frontend framework, so anyone forking the (recently open-sourced) codebase can carry widgets into a different stack. Login options expanded to include several wallets and social accounts, and email is now fully optional. The centerpiece is ASA Stats’ own smart router, now live on mainnet at a 5 basis point fee, […] ## Pages - [Newsletter](https://algorandnews.com/newsletter/): Want the latest Algorand Newsletter and community news sent directly to your inbox? Sign up for the AlgoFamily mailing list below. - [Home](https://algorandnews.com/home/): Stay Informed - [About Us](https://algorandnews.com/about-us/): Who we are AlgorandNews.com is an independent, community-operated fan site dedicated to news and information about the Algorand ecosystem. This website is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or in any way officially connected to Algorand Inc., the Algorand Foundation, or any of their subsidiaries or affiliates. The Problem The Crypto Crowd — For years, the crypto community has lived on Twitter (X). And that works great — if you’re a degen with notifications on, thumbing through memes and alpha threads eight hours a day. But what about everyone else? The Corporate Crowd — The suit-and-tie world isn’t much better. […] ## Optional - [Agent (MCP protocol)](websites-agents.hostinger.com/algorandnews.com/mcp) [comment]: # (Generated by Hostinger Tools Plugin)