Recipient of grant from Algorand Foundation launches Graphic Novel, Motion Comic and NFT Collection TRUST

New Creative Series Uses Blockchain to Reimagine Africa’s Future Now Available Through Free Download

SINGAPORE, 3 October 2022 /PRNewswire/ — The Algorand Foundationwhose mission is to grow the ecosystem to Algorandthe carbon-negative Layer 1 blockchain invented by the Turing Award winner and MIT professor Silvio Micali, is proud to support the launch of TRUST, a transmedia project featuring a graphic novel, comic and NFT collection. Created by Chief Nyamweya, Anne Connelly and Sarah Malliathe grant-supported project Algorand Foundation is distributed worldwide by Freehand Studios for free through download at TRUST website.

Set in an alternative African nation, TRUST is the story of Moraa, a young activist who, with the help of her community, uses the power of blockchain technology to protect her homeland from cultural and ecological destruction. On their journey, they learn about the power of blockchain to organize, raise money and transform their future.

“TRUST is a creative exploration of the global applications of blockchain technology and the power it has to transform and empower communities,” said Dr. Hugo Krawczyk, the Algorand Foundation’s principal investigator and head of the ACE program. “We are proud to support an initiative that aligns with the Algorand Foundation’s core values ​​of using blockchain to build equitable and inclusive futures.”

Since its inception in 2019, TRUST has collaborated with providers of blockchain education from Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana, Nigeriaand South Africa, as well as several blockchain media. These partnerships have led to overwhelming support from the blockchain community across the board Africa and globally.

“Young Africans are hungry for a vision of an African future rooted in trust, sustainability and freedom from unaccountable state power. It is the desire to satisfy this hunger with a story of a practical grassroots alternative that led us to create this transmedia project called ‘TRUST’ ,” said Chief Nyamweya, co-founder of Freehand Studios. “We wanted to use the power of storytelling to talk to readers and viewers about blockchain technology, and inspire them to envision a decentralized future rooted in justice and ecological sustainability.”

Freehand Studios, an African digital art and social impact studio, aims to inspire young Africans to engage in the positive transformation of their society. TRUST contributed to this vision by giving global citizens access to inspiring and culturally relevant stories that allow them to rethink their own futures.

ALGORAND FOUNDATION
The Algorand blockchain — designed by MIT professor and Turing Award-winning cryptographer Silvio Micali — is capable of fulfilling the promise of one limitless global economy. It achieves transaction throughputs at the speed of traditional finance, with instant finality and near-zero transaction costs, and without a second of downtime since it went live in June 2019. 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.

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

ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Chief Nyamweya is a writer, visual artist and co-founder of the Freehand Movement: a studio for African digital art and social impact. His work combines storytelling, illustration and animation to create visions of an alternative African future. Chief originally trained as a lawyer and chartered accountant before making the unlikely decision to pursue a career as an artist. In 2016, he was awarded a scholarship to attend Singularity University in San Francisco and in 2019 he was listed among Business Daily Africa’s Top 40 Under 40 Men. The 36-year-old father of two has since published a graphic novel The art of unlearning (2019), subtitled ‘how to discover your passion and share it’, as well as directed several animations such as Big brother comes to the farm which explores the dark side of the digitization of food production and Uli and Tata’s African nursery rhymes an animated series for children. His latest project, a trans media history called Trust (2022) set in a fictional African nation he calls Wahengalandis set to be released in September 2022.

Anne Connelly has been a leader in the blockchain and cryptocurrency sector since 2012. She is a faculty at Boston University Questrom School of Business, where she teaches blockchain-based business models for social impact. She also teaches with the Singularity Group and the Realm Academy, a metaverse school.

She is the co-author of “Bitcoin and the Future of Fundraising,” a guide for charities on crypto-donations, and co-author of “Trust,” a graphic novel that teaches young Africans about blockchain. She is certified by the Institute of Corporate Directors and sits as a steward on the Gitcoin DAO, a decentralized organization that supports the creation of public goods.

Anne previously worked with Doctors Without Borders as a field worker Central African Republic and DR Congo. She has a Bachelor of Life Sciences from Queen’s University, an MBA from McMaster Universityand is certified in Strategic Disruption from Harvard Business School. She was honored as one of CBC’s 12 Young Leaders Changing Canada and one of the Fifty Most Inspiring Women in Technology in Canada.

She has previously worked with Doctors Without Borders Canada in Central African Republic and The Democratic Republic of the Congo, and currently sits on their board. Anne has a Bachelor of Life Sciences from Queen’s University, an MBA from McMaster Universityand a Fintech certificate from MIT. She was honored as one of CBC’s 12 Young Leaders Changing Canada and one of the Fifty Most Inspiring Women in Technology in Canada.

Animation team: Sarah Mallia, Tim Mumali, Manu Akatsa

For a free copy of the graphic novel, visit https://www.trustgraphicnovel.com/book

For more information, visit www.trustgraphicnovel.com

For media-ready images, visit: https://www.trustgraphicnovel.com/media

For other media inquiries or interviews, please contact;

MEDIA CONTACT
Prosec Partners, on behalf of Algorand Foundation
[email protected]

SOURCE Algorand Foundation