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Blockchain Development: NEAR Ecosystem

Following up on our previous article regarding Blockchain Development: The Solana Ecosystem, we will be showcasing NEAR Protocol and its ecosystem. NEAR offers a collective, a foundation and a blockchain. The mix of offerings allows for developers to create sustainable, cost-effective and secured dApps on the NEAR blockchain. We will deep dive into what can be achieved with NEAR protocol and why users should build on it. Not only that, but we will tap into some of the already existing leading custody providers, wallets, and applications that are integrating with the NEAR network.

What is NEAR Protocol?

NEAR Protocol is a layer-one blockchain that was designed as a community-based on a cloud computing platform and that eliminates some of the limitations that have been bothering competing blockchains. Such include low transaction speeds, low throughput and poor scalability. This provides the perfect environment for dApps. Consequently, creating a  developer and user-friendly platform. For instance, NEAR uses human-readable account names, as opposed to the cryptographic wallet addresses such as Ethereum. $NEAR also introduces unique solutions to scaling problems and has its own consensus mechanism called “Doomslug.”

Also, NEAR offers a multi-chain future to its users. NEAR runs in concert with Ethereum, Polkadot, Cosmos, and more, allowing for the free flow of assets and communication between networks for the betterment of all. Not only that, but the protocol offers scalable solutions. The protocol eliminates the barriers to Web3 adoption. With high speeds, low fees, and progressive UX, NEAR’s climate-neutral blockchain is ready for explosive growth.

One of the most successful projects built on NEAR is called Flux. Flux is a protocol that allows developers to create markets based on assets, commodities, real-world events, and Mintbase, an NFT minting platform. Therefore, Flux is a great example of what can be achieved with Near.

Benefits of Near

NEAR uses its Nightshade technology to improve transaction throughput massively. Nightshade is a variation of sharding, in which individual sets of validators process transactions in parallel across multiple sharded chains, improving the overall capacity of the blockchain. In contrast to “regular” sharding, shards in Nightshade produce a fraction of the next block, called “chunks.” In doing so, NEAR Protocol is able to achieve up to 100,000 transactions per second and achieve near-instant transaction finality thanks to a one-second block cadence while simultaneously keeping transaction fees at virtually zero.

NEAR Protocol also improves upon the convoluted onboarding process of other blockchains by having human-readable addresses and building decentralized applications with similar registration flow to what users have already experienced. Moreover, it provides developers with modular components, helping them start projects like token contracts or NFTs more efficiently and faster than ever before.

NEAR Token

Here you can find important information regarding the Near Token - $NEAR.

  • Ticker: NEAR.
  • Blockchain: Near.
  • Consensus: Proof of Stake (PoS).
  • Token Type: Coin.
  • Max Supply: 1,000,000,000
  • Total Supply: 1,000,000,000
  • All-Time High (Jan 14, 2022): $20.3
  • All-Time Low (Nov 04, 2020): $0.526
  • Exchanges: Binance, Huobi, Gate.io, OKEx, etc.

Near Blockchain

  • TPS: 100,000 TPS at 1M nodes, ~1s finality
  • Validators: 60
  • Blocktime: 1.01s.
  • Total transactions: 34,712,493
  • Total accounts: 1,120,800
  • Avg. Tx fee ($): 0.005$.

NEAR Wallets

This paragraph will showcase some of the most popular DeFi wallets connected to the Solana ecosystem. If you are not familiar with DeFi wallets, then go ahead and check out our previous article on DeFi Wallets.

One of the most popular NEAR wallets is the Near Wallet.

Near Wallet is a wallet used to store NEAR coins and NEP21 token standards supported on the Near blockchain platform. You can send and receive NEAR and NEP21 tokens as well as interact with applications on this platform through the Near wallet. In particular, this wallet is owned by you, no one has the right to influence or use the wallet other than you.

Near wallet has 2 extremely important pieces of information you must note:

  • Wallet address: Is a sequence of numbers and characters used to send assets to the Near wallet. Others can transfer coins to you through the wallet address you provide. A Near (NEAR) wallet address will have the following format: 0x329CdCBBD82c934fe32322b423bD8fBd30b4EEB6.
  • Passphrase and Private Key: Is a security key that can be understood as a type of password in which Passphrase including 12 any English keywords and Private Key will consist of a sequence of letters and numbers. If you want to perform the wallet recovery operation, you must go through the Private Key or Passphrase login step.
  • Format of a Private Key: e.g. 1a6bb7e9b25bbed5f513bd1dd1866d12c1010a6d2a138f657aaf291064e11b7c
  • Format of a Passphrase: e.g. money estate dollar tunnel museum tone fridge army blue nice soap double.

Guarda Wallet

Guarda wallet was launched only a few years ago, in 2017. The group of highly experienced specialists is focusing on creating blockchain-related products ever since then. When it comes to Guarda crypto wallet, the main aim was to create a digital wallet that could provide users with complete security, effortless crypto storing and easy asset management. Since the company respects your anonymity, they do not store your backup files, private keys, or any other data that could threaten your security. Even though it has been only a few years since the wallet was created, the company has come a long way. At first, they started with a single currency wallet, then added the web version, iOS and Android versions, created a token generator and so much more. Guarda supports more than 40 coins and thousands of tokens including ERC20s, BEP-2, and other popular assets. The number is pretty high compared to some other cryptocurrency wallets.

Math Wallet

MathWallet is a multi-platform (mobile/desktop/extension/hardware) universal crypto wallet that enables storage of all BTC, ETH/ERC20, NEO/NEP5, EOS, TRON, ONT/ONG, ENU/Telos/EOSC/BOS, BinanceChain, Cosmos, VeChain, and Polkadot tokens. Math Wallet also features cross-chain token exchanges, a multi-chain DApp store and operates nodes for PoS chain. Our investors includes Fenbushi, FundamentalLabs.

NEAR NFT Marketplaces and NFT platforms

Wondering what is the best NFT Marketplace?

NEAR NFT Marketplaces and NFT platforms
NEAR NFT Marketplaces and NFT platforms

Paras

Pluminite

Mintbase

Snark Art

NEAR NFT Games

Shroom Kingdom - the first play-to-earn video game built with web technologies running on the NEAR Protocol Blockchain. Other watch-worthy projects include OPGames, ZedRun, Near Lands, etc.

NEAR DeFi Projects

Rainbow Bridge

The fully-functional NEAR — ETH rainbow bridge. It enables the transfer of any token, NFT, or asset between the NEAR and Ethereum blockchains. Total assets issued on Rainbow Bridge from Sep 27th to Oct 3rd, 2021 increased 10.16% compared to the previous week.

Blockchain bridges are important for DeFi development specifically and for any ecosystem in general. They create asset flows and interoperability between blockchains. Rainbow Bridge enables users to transfer digital assets from Ethereum - a blockchain that holds significant value to Near - the one that is developing its DeFi ecosystem and in need of additional liquidity. It is also excited to see SOL <> NEAR and BSC <> NEAR bridges that are under development currently.

Octopus Network

A sidechain network to bootstrap and run Web3.0 application-specific blockchains, aka appchains. The Octopus Network launched its mainnet in September and its first appchain on October 8th. When Octopus runs in its full capacity, 30-50 appchains will be launched in the network annually.

Aurora - an EVM built on the NEAR Protocol, aims for full compatibility with Ethereum development tools. Aurora launched its validator on NEAR and started charging delegators with 9% fees to ensure transactions remain free for users. The fee will be adjusted over time according to the amount of the delegated funds.

Ref.Finance is the premier bluechip DeFi project of the NEAR Ecosystem. Combining best practices built into the NEAR Protocol, with a value-focused design of the core platform, Ref.Finance is a stack of DeFi services and products built around a core AMM.

The first product Ref.Finance is launching is a novel AMM built on NEAR, similar in design to Uniswap. The nature of the $REF token, the governance of the Ref DAO, and the core services offered by Ref to projects in and beyond the NEAR Ecosystem, are all harmoniously integrated with the core functionality of this underlying AMM.

  • Swap Fees = $0.005 USD per swap paid in $NEAR. Of this, 1 bps is reserved for developer incentives for swaps, while 4 bps of each swap are reserved for the Ref Treasury.
  • 1–2 Second Finality and Optimal runtime allowing for competitive settlement and costs between trades, on par with most existing centralized exchanges.
  • ERC20 compatible via the Rainbow Bridge and soon the Aurora Network, allowing for the rapid transfer of both Ethereum based and NEAR based assets between the two networks. As Rainbow Protocol is built out further into other L1 blockchains, assets will be easily listed and sold on Ref from other chains.
  • Decentralized Governance via the Ref DAO. Ref pushes the limits of community governance with a fully developed and deployed Astro DAO, split between two councils. Token generation, distribution, and management, are effectively governed in a decentralized and community-oriented manner.
  • DeFi Legos built around the core Ref AMM to allow for trading, swapping, synthetic asset issuance, tranching, and much more.

Oracle

Flux, ChainLink, and Band Protocol are oracles that provide smart contracts with access to off-chain data feeds. Services from both ChainLink and Band Protocol have not mainnet on Near yet and Flux Protocol is the first oracle originally developed on NEAR Protocol at this moment.

NEAR DAOs

DAOs on the NEAR blockchain
DAOs on the NEAR blockchain

What is a DAO? In short, a DAO, or decentralized autonomous organization, is a system that allows people to govern themselves. Because its governance is decentralized, it operates more efficiently than traditional systems. At present, most DAOs are based and operate on the Ethereum Blockchain, however, there are other examples as well and we will be showcasing them from Solana's ecosystem.

Here is a list of the top three most interesting DAOs, on the NEAR blockchain:

  1. Astro is the DAO infrastructure on NEAR that empowers groups from across the world to make decisions together, collectively. Think of Astro as a social platform for decentralized on-chain communities (OCC), where users can gather, vote, and govern. On Astro, OCCs allow groups to prove identity and membership but also coordinate decisions through a system of smart contracts. Each vote within these social communities is verified by the NEAR blockchain, and funds are dispersed based on these democratic votes. Just as many dApp and appchain projects now implement DAO-based governance structures, Astro removes the overhead of building a custom DAO for each project, significantly simplifying the process of launching a project on NEAR, Aurora, and Octopus Network. Beyond voting, Astro users can meet other people that share their values and fund their collective goals. Astro’s treasury is shared, meaning funds are held and always distributed through a community-defined process. The DAO’s governance is optimized through voting, allowing groups to calibrate exactly how their community will operate on the blockchain.
  2. Reality Chain - a multi-chain, social gaming metaverse, Reality Chain recently launched on Octopus Network, substrate-based appchain network on NEAR Protocol. Reality Chain, users can level up their social and gaming lives through immersive 2D and 3D multiplayer functionality and a suite of features. Think of Reality Chain as a social metaverse — or, rather, a platform for social metaverses. By staking $REAL native tokens, players can build a brand new metaverse. Reality Chain also envisions a Metaverse that allows users to walk from blockchain to blockchain as easily as pressing direction buttons or teleport triggers. By minting and purchasing NFT avatars, Reality Chain players can interact with each other through voice and text chats. Users can also interact with a metaverse environment of in-game assets like NFT surfaces and objects. Reality Chain’s newly created Metaverse Engine and DAO give $REAL token holders the right to vote on projects. After the game launches, the 3D engine will be upgraded to enhance the social metaverse’s visuals.
  3. Feiyu is a picture-based social network on NEAR that allows users to share memes and GIFs on the metaverse. To aid with content creation, Feiyu comes equipped with a built-in meme generator and NFT marketplace, allowing users to easily create and share their memes and GIFs with others. Those who participate on the platform can garner rewards, like the native token or acquiring NFT items such as skins, weapons, etc. By building on NEAR, Feiyu is able to hide the “crypto” part of the platform from its 1.5 million users. What this means is that users don’t have to register a wallet, pay gas fees for tokens at decentralized exchanges, and so on. Another way of saying it is that the crypto part of Feiyu just works — easily and seamlessly.
  4. BoringDAO deploys a series of decentralized bridges - or tunnels - which allow you to safely move your Bitcoin & other crypto assets between Ethereum & different blockchains to maximize utilization rate of crypto assets in DeFi world.
  5. SWAGGERDAO - Building the first high-end Web3 native fashion brand with the ambition of being the first brand putting everything within the supply- chain
  6. Flamingo DAO. Flamingo is an NFT-focused DAO that aims to explore emerging investment opportunities for ownable, blockchain-based assets. NFTs are not just cat pictures. They encompass digital art, collectibles, and in-game assets and other tangible assets. These new forms of digital property are poised to play an increasing role in helping to create, monetize, and incentivize online digital content.

If you enjoyed reading this article and would like to learn more about DeFi and build your own DeFi project or receive blockchain consulting, then please feel free to contact our team of elite developers who can help you achieve great results and become the pioneer of our future. Also, if you would like to learn more about the services our company offers, then definitely check out the Services page.

For more related articles feel free to scroll down this page or visit our designated Blog page which will keep you up-to-date with the latest trends in the web3 world.

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