Alephium (ALPH) is a blockchain network designed to address shortcomings in accessibility, scalability, and security experienced by today’s decentralized applications. It's built on a novel sharding algorithm called Blockflow, which enhances the UTXO model and uses a DAG data structure for consensus among shards. This approach allows Alephium to handle over 10,000 transactions per second while maintaining a seamless user experience across its sharded architecture​​.

One of the network's key innovations is its Proof of Less Work (PoLW) consensus mechanism. PoLW aims to significantly reduce energy consumption—by over 87% compared to traditional Proof of Work (PoW) systems—without sacrificing decentralization or security. This makes Alephium not only more eco-friendly but also accessible for participants to run full nodes and verify transactions independently.

Alephium introduces a stateful UTXO model, blending the security & decentralization benefits of the UTXO model with the flexibility and programmability of account-based models like Ethereum's. This hybrid model supports mutable states for smart contracts while securing asset transactions with the robustness of UTXOs. This dual benefit is crucial for developing complex decentralized applications (dApps) and financial instruments while maintaining high security and scalability​​.

The network has developed its own virtual machine and programming language, tailored to enhance the security and development experience of smart contracts and dApps. This design incorporates built-in security measures to mitigate common vulnerabilities, such as reentrancy attacks, enabling developers to focus on innovation rather than technical pitfalls​​.

The ALPH Token

ALPH is the native token of the Alephium ecosystem, it is used to power transactions, incentivize miners and secure the Alephium network. ALPH has a maximum supply of 1 billion tokens mined over 80+ years, ensuring a controlled circulation that supports the network's value and stability.

About the Founders

Alephium was founded by Cheng Wang, who is the core developer of the project. Cheng has a strong background in both cryptography and distributed computing due to his two PhD research experiences (math and computer science). He proposed the first linear-time asynchronous byzantine agreement algorithm and co-authored research papers ''Beyond One Third Byzantine Failures'' and  which won a Best Paper Award. 

Risks of ALPH

Like an investment in other crypto assets, there are some general risks to investing in ALPH. These include:  (i) volatility risk and liquidity risk, (ii) short history risk, (iii) demand risk, (iv) forking risk, (v) code defects, (vi) regulatory risk, (vii) electronic trading risk, and (viii) cyber security risk. For additional information of these and other general risks associated with crypto assets and Uphold’s platform, please refer to the Risks Specific to Holding Digital Assets statement.

In addition to these general risks, an investment in ALPH is subject to the following specific risks:

The Layer-1 space is intensely competitive. Several new blockchains continue to emerge which boast high-profile teams, claim unparalleled transaction speed, energy-efficiency, as well as developer-friendly programming languages. Any potential success associated with ALPH is reliant on the extent to which the Alephium blockchain is adopted by enterprises and developers.

We emphasize that this Crypto Asset Statement is not an exhaustive description or summary of all risks associated with ALPH. Investors should conduct their own research and perform their own assessment before trading any crypto asset to determine the appropriate level of risk for their personal circumstances.

The ALPH community and Alephium founding team are not under any legal or regulatory obligation to disclose material information to the public regarding its activities. Holders of ALPH have no recourse to the ALH community, Alephium founding team, or Uphold if ALPH declines in value for any reason.

Changes to applicable law may adversely affect the use, transfer, exchange, or value of any of your crypto assets, and such changes may be sudden and without notice.

Uphold’s Evaluation Process

Prior to listing ALPH on the Uphold Platform, Uphold performed due diligence on ALPH and determined that ALPH is unlikely to be a security or derivative under relevant securities legislation. Uphold’s analysis including reviewing publicly available information on the following: 

The creation, governance, usage, and design of ALPH, including ensuring the source code is open-source, audited and peer reviewed, security, and roadmap for growth in the developer community. 

The supply, demand, maturity, utility, and liquidity of ALPH.

Any marketing materials put forward by the ALPH social team including on, Twitter, Medium blog, LinkedIn posts, Discord and Telegram channels.

Material technical risks associated with ALPH, including any code defects, security breaches and other threats concerning ALPH and its supporting blockchain (such as the susceptibility to hacking and impact of forking), or the practices and protocols that apply to them.

Legal and regulatory risks associated with ALPH, including any pending, potential, or prior civil, regulatory, criminal, or enforcement action relating to the issuance, distribution, or use of ALPH.