Top 10 Protocols in the NEAR Ecosystem to Watch For
What Is NEAR Protocol?
“NEAR has the highest growth potential of any Layer-1 blockchain right now. As the fastest, sharded Proof-of-Stake chain with superb infrastructure and developer experiences, NEAR has all the tools to become the next DeFi powerhouse," says N^2, the pseudonymous founder of Bastion decentralized lending protocol built on NEAR.
What is NEAR Protocol’s main difference from other dApp networks? It is definitely its inherent scalability. The key element of the NEAR architecture is sharding: the blockchain is divided into segments that run in parallel, each with its own set of validators. Network’s nodes only have to process a small share of all NEAR transactions – they don’t have to run the whole blockchain at once, which reduces their workload and leaves room for scalability:
- NEAR Protocol’s average block time is 1.15s;
- Gas fees are less than a penny,
- Transactions are finalized within 1-2 seconds,
- NEAR is expected to process about 100,000 transactions per second once fully developed.
Another side of NEAR Protocol’s efficiency is that it was designed as a carbon-neutral blockchain. Proof of Stake-based NEAR generates 200,000 times less CO2 than Bitcoin does and sponsors reforestation projects across the globe.
The blockchain was conceived in late 2018 by engineers who had previously worked at Facebook, Google, and Microsoft. Two of the team members had won a world’s coding championship.
NEAR is a popular coin ranking #28 by market cap. The asset is trading at numerous crypto exchange platforms, including ChangeNOW. If you’ve ever wondered how to buy NEAR Protocol, check out our website and see what rates we offer.
The Rise of the NEAR Ecosystem
In the spring of 2021, developers launched the cross-chain Rainbow bridge – this enabled easy transfer of Ethereum assets to the NEAR blockchain and back. Three months later, Aurora, an EVM-compatible layer-2 solution, allowed everyone to deploy Ethereum-based smart contracts in the NEAR ecosystem.
These two events laid the ground for an explosive growth of the NEAR ecosystem. We’re not here to make a bullish NEAR Protocol price prediction, but just look at these numbers:
- In July 2022, the total number of projects building on NEAR exceeded 700. This includes protocols deployed on Aurora and Octopus Network, blockchains operating on top of NEAR.
- According to the non-commercial NEAR Foundation, the network handles from 300,000 to 400,000 transactions daily.
- DeFiLlama estimates that the total value locked in the NEAR Protocol is about $261 million, not including $145 million locked in Aurora.
As the ecosystem grows, NEAR Protocol embraces stablecoins. In April 2022, developers launched an algorithmic USD-pegged stablecoin USN backed by the NEAR coin. In a stablecoin crisis sparked by the TerraUSD collapse this May, the biggest depeg that USN experienced was a drop down to $0.96 tackled within several hours. Another stablecoin that announced joining NEAR in September 2022 was Tether (USDT).
The rapid rise of the NEAR ecosystem is heavily backed by non-commercial funding and investments:
- Last year, it was announced at an annual NEARCON conference that an $800 million fund would be created to sponsor developers building on NEAR.
- In April 2022, NEAR closed a $350 million funding round led by Tiger Global, FTX Ventures, Dragonfly Capital, and the others.
- In September 2022, NEAR Foundation launched a $100 million fund and a venture lab to support Web3 projects.
Now, let’s review 10 projects that will give you the best picture of the NEAR ecosystem today.
Aurora – EVM-compatible Layer-2
NEAR itself isn’t EVM-compatible – so it’s not possible to easily deploy a smart contract, dApp, or token from Ethereum or BSC on NEAR. Meanwhile, this feature is a must for a network that wants to quickly gain traction in the Web3 segment.
Aurora layer-2 solution has changed this – now, any protocol can easily migrate to the NEAR ecosystem and enjoy low fees and scalability in a familiar interface. Such major protocols as 1inch and Curve have already been deployed in Aurora, and the blockchain’s TVL has reached $146 million by September 2022. The network hosts about 200 dApps and is governed by AuroraDAO. The increasing activity in Aurora is definitely something that gives bullish impetus to the NEAR coin price prediction.
In February 2022, the activity in Aurora surged so much that it congested the NEAR network, and developers had to introduce a small gas fee in previously gas-less Aurora. It turned out that 80% of all transactions were made by the users of a recently launched game Moonflower Farmers.
Bastion – Lending
Bastion is the largest protocol built on Aurora with $76 million of total value locked. This lending platform offers a balanced approach to asset management, algorithmic risk optimization, and great UX. As a NEAR-based platform, it pleases users with ultra-low gas fees, fast transactions, and increased capital efficiency.
In 2022, Bastion received an unknown amount of investment money from several parties. Those included Illia Polosukhin, the co-founder of NEAR, and Jane Street – one of the world’s largest market makers with a yearly $17 trillion volume of futures trading. This round helped Bastion experience “explosive growth” with $200 million being locked in just 24 hours.
MyNearWallet
MyNearWallet is a wallet for the NEAR ecosystem with a user-friendly flow. It allows users to:
- Store and exchange all NEAR-based tokens. If you’re considering where to buy NEAR Protocol within the ecosystem, MyNearWallet is a good option.
- Interact with 700+ NEAR dApps.
- Stake NEAR at a 10% APY.
- Store tokens via Ledger wallet.
MyNearWallet is non-custodial and doesn’t collect any identifying information about its customers. To start using the wallet, you need to create an anonymous account – a convenient profile with a human-readable NEAR address that will allow you to easily navigate the NEAR ecosystem.
Ref Finance – Decentralized Exchange
Ref.finance is the largest decentralized exchange in the NEAR ecosystem. It leverages the AMM model with liquidity pools, including those for stablecoins: StableSwap feature lets users trade USD-pegged assets the same way as in Curve and earn interest in stablecoins.
Ref.finance was created by Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of NEAR Protocol, and financed with a grant from the NEAR Foundation. Besides basic functionality like providing liquidity and staking LP tokens, Ref.finance offers higher rewards for staking its native token REF, and users can also participate in decision-making through DAO.
The total value locked in Ref.finance is about $231 million.
Burrow Cash – Lending and Liquid Staking
Burrow Cash is a decentralized lending platform based on the NEAR blockchain. In addition to standard features like taking a loan against a collateral, Burrow offers liquid staking functionality.
Let’s say you want to stake NEAR or USN and earn staking rewards. In a typical scenario, you would have to lock the coins, meaning that it wouldn’t be possible to use them for a while. With Burrow, you can take profit of the staked coins: the protocol issues synthetic tokens against staked assets (i.e. stNEAR – staked NEAR), which you can use to take a crypto loan or create a leveraged staking position.
Is NEAR Protocol a good investment? ChangeNOW doesn’t give financial advice, but we do say that Burrow gives you the means to diversify your investment strategy with NEAR coins.
Burrow rewards users’ activity by distributing its native BRRR tokens. The amount of deposited funds on Burrow reaches $38 million; users have borrowed about $7 million.
Roketo – Time-Distributed Token Streams
Roketo is a NEAR-based platform that allows persistent, time-distributed token transfers. Here’s how this works: once you launch a token stream by setting an amount and a duration, funds start gradually accumulating in the receiver’s account. You can pause, resume, and stop the stream at any moment, and the recipient always sees how much money has been accrued.
Such a dosed distribution of funds works perfectly for the following use cases:
- Automated recurring payrolls. If your team is paid with crypto, you can create a single stream that will deliver salary for as long as you want. This way, you won’t have to manually send dozens of transactions every month.
- Fair pay-per-minute services. With Roketo, customers can pay precisely for the time they’ve been using a service: car parking, equipment rental, or a subscription.
- Airdrops with reduced token volatility. Once an airdrop of a new token occurs, users often sell it right away, thus dumping the price. If the drop is distributed by a few months, this helps avoid quick sales and consequent volatility.
CoinPipe – Crypto for Businesses
If you run a business and want to accept cryptocurrency as payment, CoinPipe is a solution. It’s a gateway that allows your customers to pay directly to your crypto wallet – but not just that. CoinPipe is a toolkit designed to help a business – be it a retail store or an e-commerce platform – grow with cryptocurrency. Here’s what you can do with CoinPipe:
- Accept NEAR and 30+ tokens rooted in the NEAR ecosystem. Auto-conversion to stablecoins is available – you can leverage it in periods of market turbulence.
- Use advanced analytics to stay synchronized with the market.
- Expand to new markets by partnering with local acquirers.
- Keep the legal routine effortless – CoinPipe will form automatic tax reports to spare you from paperwork.
- Enjoy 0.5% fees for all transactions and absence of any hidden payments.
Anyone who finds CoinPipe a good deal can try their demo.
NearPay – Fiat-to-Crypto Bridge
We took a look at a crypto payment solution suitable for businesses only, but how about a tool that would cater to individuals as well? Meet NearPay – an asset management tool for everyone who enjoys simplicity and convenience. Here, you can buy, store, spend, and exchange crypto just as easily as in a bank app. The platform supports NEAR and 30+ NEAR-based tokens.
NearPay also offers a fiat bridge – NearPay debit card is the first one of its kind launched by a web3 platform. Users can issue a virtual or a plastic card and pay with crypto anywhere Visa is accepted – the conversion will be done automatically. For more details, see our guide into crypto debit and credit cards.
Kikimora Labs – NEAR Startup Studio
Any ecosystem grows faster when there’s someone ready to help newcomers navigate the space and develop. In the NEAR ecosystem, it’s Kikimora Labs – a venture studio and tech hub that incubates projects in web3, fintech, DeFi, and GameFi. It gives support at different stages from concept generation to scaling, helps with investments, marketing, and staff. Kikimora Labs co-invests in NEAR startups with venture capitalists, individual and institutional investors.
Almost half of the projects listed in this article were created with support from Kikimora Labs – Roketo, CoinPipe, NearPay, and MyNearWallet.
AstroDAO – Decentralized Community Building
Many communities on NEAR are managed via decentralized autonomous organizations (DAO) where users can coordinate their common decisions using smart contracts. AstroDAO facilitates creation of such organizations – one can be built in 10 minutes without a single line of code.
Hundreds of DAOs have already been created on AstroDAO. Large projects like Aurora and Ref.finance leverage the protocol to manage their communities, but there are plenty of more local associations as well – for instance, Creatives DAO distributes grants in creative industries and brings together all kinds of artistic contributors to the NEAR ecosystem.
