Algorand Foundation Announces Matthew Keller as the Director of Impact and Inclusion

Keller joins the team to help expand the network of organizations and entrepreneurs using the Algorand blockchain to drive financial inclusion and positive environmental and social impact

SINGAPORE, May 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- The Algorand Foundation, the nonprofit associated with the carbon-negative Layer 1 blockchain Algorand, invented by Turing Award winner and MIT professor Silvio Micali, today announced the appointment of Matthew Keller as the Director of Impact and Inclusion.

As the Director of Impact and Inclusion, Keller will be responsible for making grants and investments in individuals and institutions making use of the Algorand blockchain for social impact. Keller will also manage the Algorand Clean Energy Challenge, a competition designed to incentivize participants to solve the issue of verifying and certifying green energy through the Algorand blockchain. Finally, he will be developing partnerships with UN Agencies and large NGOs that wish to use the Algorand Blockchain for social and environmental good.

Keller brings a wealth of experience working for global nonprofits, multilateral institutions, and advocacy groups. Previously, he was with XPRIZE Foundation where he conceptualized and directed the $15 million Global Learning XPRIZE which challenged teams from across the world to develop scalable software to empower children to teach themselves reading, writing, and numerical literacy within 15 months. Prior to that, Keller served as the Vice President of Global Advocacy for One Laptop per Child where he partnered with developing country governments to deliver learning technologies at a national level. Keller was also a senior lawyer at the UN World Food Programme in Rome, where he ran a global advocacy campaign focused on childhood hunger. Keller started his career in Washington, DC leading efforts to reform campaign finance law in the United States.

This appointment is part of CEO Staci Warden's commitment to expand the leadership team of the Foundation to include people with a proven track record of solving global challenges. "We are thrilled to have Matt join the team in a senior leadership role spearheading global impact and climate initiatives," said Staci. "Matt will be instrumental in upholding the Foundation's mission to enable an inclusive, decentralized, and borderless global economy."

Keller said, "Staci's faith in Algorand as a force for good is extremely compelling to me. That narrative is being carried forth by those daring enough to make a difference, fueled by the efficiency, reach, speed, and transparency that the Algorand blockchain provides."

ALGORAND FOUNDATION

The Algorand blockchain — designed by the MIT professor and Turing Award winning cryptographer Silvio Micali — is uniquely capable of delivering on the promise of a borderless global economy. It achieves transaction throughputs at the speed of traditional finance, but with immediate finality, near zero transaction costs, and on a 24/7 basis. Its carbon-neutral platform and unique pure proof-of-stake consensus mechanism solves for the "blockchain trilemma" by achieving both security and scalability on a decentralized protocol, and without a second of downtime since it went live in 2019.

The Algorand Foundation is dedicated to helping fulfill the global promise of the Algorand blockchain by taking responsibility for its sound monetary supply economics, decentralized governance, and healthy and prosperous open-source ecosystem. For more information, visit https://algorand.foundation.

CONTACTS

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SOURCE Algorand Foundation