Steve Kokinos

About Steve Kokinos

Steve Kokinos is a technology entrepreneur and investor currently associated with Sonic Boom Ventures in an investor capacity, and known in the crypto industry for his tenure as CEO of Algorand, which he led from 2018 until mid-2022. It is important to be precise about his role: Kokinos did not found Algorand. Algorand was founded by Silvio Micali, an MIT professor and Turing Award recipient in computer science. Kokinos was hired as the company's CEO to lead its business and commercial development, joining after the foundational academic and technical work had been established.

Before his Algorand role, Kokinos had a significant track record as a technology company founder. He co-founded BladeLogic, a data center automation company that was acquired by BMC Software, and Fuze, a cloud-based unified communications company. These ventures reflect a pattern of building enterprise technology companies and taking them through significant growth phases including acquisition or substantial scale.

In July 2022, Algorand announced that Kokinos was leaving the CEO role and would transition to a senior adviser position for a limited period, ending in 2023. He has not held an operational role at Algorand since the conclusion of that advisory period. The Algorand Foundation and the broader Algorand ecosystem have continued development under separate current leadership.

Algorand: Founded by Silvio Micali

Algorand is a Layer-1 blockchain protocol founded by Silvio Micali, an MIT professor who is credited with foundational contributions to cryptography including probabilistic encryption and zero-knowledge proofs. The Algorand blockchain uses a Pure Proof-of-Stake (PPoS) consensus mechanism designed by Micali to achieve fast finality, low transaction costs, and a more equitable participation model than proof-of-work or delegated proof-of-stake alternatives.

Algorand operates through two distinct but related entities: Algorand Inc. (the company) and the Algorand Foundation (a nonprofit supporting the ecosystem). As of 2026, the Algorand Foundation's roadmap emphasizes payments, asset tokenization, and the development of post-quantum resilience through planned protocol upgrades. These technical directions are attributed to the current Foundation and developer ecosystem, not to Kokinos.

ALGO is the native token of the Algorand network, used for transaction fees, staking, and governance participation. Token holders participate in on-chain governance through the Foundation's governance framework.

Sonic Boom Ventures

Sonic Boom Ventures is Kokinos's current investment vehicle, through which he focuses on technology and venture investing. Current fund activity, portfolio companies, and investment focus should be verified against current direct and authoritative records, as the operational details of this investment activity are less publicly documented than his earlier executive roles.

Key Contributions

Why Steve Kokinos Matters in Crypto

Kokinos's tenure at Algorand represents a case study in the application of enterprise technology company-building experience to Layer-1 blockchain commercialization. His background founding and scaling companies like BladeLogic and Fuze — both outside the crypto industry — provided a different kind of operational expertise to Algorand during a period when many Layer-1 networks were scaling their commercial operations alongside technical development. While the foundational cryptography and consensus design of Algorand belongs to Silvio Micali and the academic team, the commercial infrastructure Kokinos helped build during 2018–2022 contributed to the ecosystem's development. His subsequent move into venture investing through Sonic Boom Ventures represents continued engagement with the technology entrepreneurship ecosystem.