Algorand teams up with Blockstack and adopts Clarity smart contract language

Algorand and Blockstack have teamed up to co-develop and support the Clarity smart contract programming language. Blockstack already had plans to debut Clarity as part of its Stacks 2.0 network launch scheduled for later this Summer. As for Algorand, Clarity gives prospective developers an option beyond its original programming language, TEAL. Both projects view this collaboration as a step towards improving inter-blockchain communication by making cross-chain interactions more direct, instead of relying on a third-party intermediary or protocol.

Why it matters:

• The collaboration provides distinct benefits to both participants. Blockstack is looking to increase its sphere of influence by way of Clarity. The more developers that understand Clarity, the easier it will be to build on Blockstack. For Algorand, it gives developers a more diversified toolset, and thus a more attractive destination for deploying new projects. The name of the game is developer aggregation for green smart contract platforms.
• Clarity is a “non-Turing complete” programming language, which purposefully differentiates it from Ethereum’s Solidity. Non-Turing complete languages are reportedly less bug-prone. Reentrancy attacks through recursive contract calls, as what happened with the infamous DAO Hack, are mitigated by a lack of Turing completeness. But the tradeoff is languages like Clarity are more restrictive by design to prevent these types of potentially catastrophic bugs. Part of Ethereum’s success can be attributed to the functionality granted by Solidity.