_783a77d6-c566-4286-b0dd-30ee558558fe.jpeg

• Near Protocol’s X page was hacked for the second time this year, with the hackers posting a series of anti-crypto messages instead of promoting scams or phishing campaigns.

• The hackers criticized the $2 trillion cryptocurrency ecosystem and its underlying blockchain industry, urging users to delete their accounts and choose a normal life.

• This incident adds to a growing list of hacks targeting DeFi and crypto-related projects, including scams involving X accounts belonging to members of the Trump family and football star Kylian Mbappe, as well as hacks of accounts owned by Metallica, Frax Finance founder Sam Kazemian, and crypto trader GCR.

Source:
https://crypto.news/near-protocols-x-page-hacked-again/

NEAR is a layer 1 blockchain that uses a unique scaling mechanism (Nightshade sharding) and makes it especially easy to onboard new users through named accounts. It aims to open the door to mass adoption for Web3.

NEAR Protocol

Near Protocol’s X page hacked again, this time with anti-crypto messages

rosy

Near Protocol's Nightshade 2.0 Upgrade Goes Live, Boosting Efficiency and Scalability

• Near Protocol, a popular Layer 1 network, has launched the Nightshade 2.0 upgrade on its mainnet, introducing stateless validation and significantly improving validator performance, transaction execution speed, and shard capacity.

• With Nightshade 2.0, validators only need to track a single shard instead of synchronizing with all six shards, enhancing efficiency and reducing the cost of operating a node.

• The upgrade is expected to increase Near's transaction throughput by five times, making it one of the fastest sharded networks in the industry.

• Near Protocol has experienced remarkable growth over the past year, with a 570% surge in cumulative transactions, a quadrupling of wallets created, and a significant increase in daily transactions, reaching a peak of 7 million on August 20, 2024.

Source:
https://thedefiant.io/news/blockchains/near-protocol-deploys-nightshade-2-0-upgrade-on-mainnet

Near Protocol's Nightshade 2.0 Upgrade Goes Live, Boosting Efficiency and Scalability

• Near Protocol, a popular Layer 1 network, has launched the Nightshade 2.0 upgrade on its mainnet, introducing stateless validation and significantly improving validator performance, transaction execution speed, and shard capacity.

• With Nightshade 2.0, validators only need to track a single shard instead of synchronizing with all six shards, enhancing efficiency and reducing the cost of operating a node.

• The upgrade is expected to increase Near's transaction throughput by five times, making it one of the fastest sharded networks in the industry.

• Near Protocol has experienced remarkable growth over the past year, with a 570% surge in cumulative transactions, a quadrupling of wallets created, and a significant increase in daily transactions, reaching a peak of 7 million on August 20, 2024.

-------

Source:
https://thedefiant.io/news/blockchains/near-protocol-deploys-nightshade-2-0-upgrade-on-mainnet

ceXar

Today I'll share with you one of my favorite projects:

NEAR Protocol: A Developer-Friendly Blockchain Platform

• NEAR Protocol is a smart contract-capable, public Proof-of-Stake blockchain designed as a community-run cloud computing platform.

• It aims to compete with Ethereum and other leading smart contract platforms by focusing on developer and user-friendliness.

• NEAR uses sharding technology to achieve scalability, splitting the network into shards to reduce computational load and enable parallel processing.

• The NEAR token is used for transaction fees, storage, and rewarding validators and developers.

• NEAR has a unique governance structure with a protocol treasury and community-elected representatives overseeing technical upgrades.

Source:
https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/near-protocol-near-token-near-crypto-blockchain

Amazing technology and an amazing team mean only good things can happen🔥

Today I'll share with you one of my favorite projects:

------------

NEAR Protocol: A Developer-Friendly Blockchain Platform

• NEAR Protocol is a smart contract-capable, public Proof-of-Stake blockchain designed as a community-run cloud computing platform.

• It aims to compete with Ethereum and other leading smart contract platforms by focusing on developer and user-friendliness.

• NEAR uses sharding technology to achieve scalability, splitting the network into shards to reduce computational load and enable parallel processing.

• The NEAR token is used for transaction fees, storage, and rewarding validators and developers.

• NEAR has a unique governance structure with a protocol treasury and community-elected representatives overseeing technical upgrades.

Source:
https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/near-protocol-near-token-near-crypto-blockchain

Amazing technology and an amazing team mean only good things can happen🔥

NEAR established in 2017, Near Protocol boasts a formidable team of over 200 members, including a core group with extensive experience who were previously part of major corporations and organizations like Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Consensys, and more. Two of the most prominent key members are Alex Skidanov and Illia Polosukhin, visionary figures who have driven NEAR's development and its ecosystem. Here's a brief overview of these two founders:

Alexander Skidanov began his career in 2009 at Microsoft after winning the gold medal at ACM ICPC 2008. In 2011, Alex joined MemSQL (now SingleStore) as the Lead Engineer, where he played a pivotal role in building core features such as storage, sharding, and durability.

Illia Polosukhin boasts over 10 years of industry experience, including 3 years at Google, where he was a key contributor to TensorFlow and managed the team responsible for core search relevance at Google. He is also the author of several notable research papers.

NEAR Protocol has raised a total of over $533.7 million across 8 funding rounds. The project has secured investments from a range of top-tier investment funds in the market, including A16Z, Pantera, Coinbase, Libertus Capital, Fabric Ventures, Xpring, Naval Ravikant, Electric Capital, Accomplice, Amplify, and Multicoin Capital.

Clearly, with its experienced team and strong partnerships, NEAR is poised to secure a top 5 market capitalization spot in the future. For me personally, NEAR under $1.4 is certainly a gift haha.

Jethro

NEAR Protocol operates on the basis of Public Proof of Stake and Sharding mechanisms. In other words, NEAR functions as a community-operated cloud platform. This implies that it is a cost-effective, highly scalable platform designed to support developers in creating decentralized applications on top of it.

Key highlights of NEAR include:
Advanced technology: Leveraging innovative Sharding technology, NEAR is capable of scaling collaborative efforts and interactions within the same ecosystem as well as with other blockchains.
Competent development team
Wide-ranging ecosystem
Modern processes
Strong partnerships
Low Gas fees: NEAR's transaction fees are currently in the low segment and come with numerous advantages. This benefit helps investors optimize costs and enhance profitability.
Fast transaction processing speed: I assess NEAR as a blockchain with incredibly fast transaction processing speed. As such, this platform can handle up to 100,000 transactions per second, particularly due to its one-second block time. According to NEAR's evaluation report, this speed is over 10,000 times faster than Ethereum. This is truly an impressive figure.
User-friendly platform

NEAR Protocol operates on the basis of Public Proof of Stake and Sharding mechanisms. In other words, NEAR functions as a community-operated cloud platform. This implies that it is a cost-effective, highly scalable platform designed to support developers in creating decentralized applications on top of it.

Key highlights of NEAR include:
- Advanced technology: Leveraging innovative Sharding technology, NEAR is capable of scaling collaborative efforts and interactions within the same ecosystem as well as with other blockchains.
- Competent development team
- Wide-ranging ecosystem
- Modern processes
- Strong partnerships
- Low Gas fees: NEAR's transaction fees are currently in the low segment and come with numerous advantages. This benefit helps investors optimize costs and enhance profitability.
- Fast transaction processing speed: I assess NEAR as a blockchain with incredibly fast transaction processing speed. As such, this platform can handle up to 100,000 transactions per second, particularly due to its one-second block time. According to NEAR's evaluation report, this speed is over 10,000 times faster than Ethereum. This is truly an impressive figure.
- User-friendly platform

I have mixed feelings about the NEAR Protocol idea. While there are some positive aspects to the project, there are also certain concerns that I believe need to be addressed.

On the positive side, NEAR Protocol's focus on usability is commendable. By prioritizing a user-friendly experience, NEAR aims to bridge the gap between blockchain technology and mainstream adoption. This emphasis on accessibility is crucial for attracting a broader audience who may not have a deep understanding of blockchain concepts.

Additionally, NEAR Protocol's scalability solutions, such as sharding and the Nightshade consensus algorithm, show promise in addressing the scalability limitations that have plagued many blockchain platforms. If successfully implemented, these mechanisms could enable NEAR to handle a high volume of transactions, making it suitable for applications requiring fast and efficient processing.

However, it is important to consider potential challenges and drawbacks as well. One concern is the level of competition in the blockchain industry. NEAR Protocol faces stiff competition from other well-established platforms, which already have a significant user base and a diverse ecosystem of applications. Standing out among established players will require strong differentiation and unique value propositions.

Only time will tell whether NEAR Protocol can overcome these hurdles and establish itself as a prominent player in the blockchain space.

Crypto Gad

The NEAR Protocol community is an exceptional and vibrant ecosystem that has rapidly gained recognition and respect within the blockchain industry.

In my opinion, the NEAR Protocol community stands out for its strong emphasis on usability, scalability, and developer friendliness, making it an attractive platform for building decentralized applications (dApps).

One of the key strengths of the NEAR Protocol community is its commitment to providing a seamless user experience. The protocol's design prioritizes simplicity and accessibility, making it easier for individuals, regardless of their technical expertise, to interact with blockchain technology. This focus on usability extends to both developers and end-users, enabling a wider adoption of blockchain solutions.

Scalability is another aspect that sets the NEAR Protocol community apart. The protocol employs innovative mechanisms, such as sharding and a novel consensus algorithm called "Nightshade," to achieve high throughput and low transaction fees. This scalability-oriented approach ensures that the NEAR Protocol can handle a large volume of transactions, making it suitable for a wide range of applications, from decentralized finance (DeFi) to gaming and beyond.

The NEAR Protocol community is an exceptional and vibrant ecosystem that has rapidly gained recognition and respect within the blockchain industry. 

In my opinion, the NEAR Protocol community stands out for its strong emphasis on usability, scalability, and developer friendliness, making it an attractive platform for building decentralized applications (dApps).

One of the key strengths of the NEAR Protocol community is its commitment to providing a seamless user experience. The protocol's design prioritizes simplicity and accessibility, making it easier for individuals, regardless of their technical expertise, to interact with blockchain technology. This focus on usability extends to both developers and end-users, enabling a wider adoption of blockchain solutions.

Scalability is another aspect that sets the NEAR Protocol community apart. The protocol employs innovative mechanisms, such as sharding and a novel consensus algorithm called "Nightshade," to achieve high throughput and low transaction fees. This scalability-oriented approach ensures that the NEAR Protocol can handle a large volume of transactions, making it suitable for a wide range of applications, from decentralized finance (DeFi) to gaming and beyond.

When we take a closer look at the on-chain activity of NEAR in the context of its massive $500 million total fundraising, it becomes apparent that the project, in its current state, to put it lightly, screwed up. I have no idea how the business model and incentive mechanisms for users were designed in such a way that, after just one year, the network's activity is so lackluster - from trading to deposits. (Actually, I do, but that's a separate behind-the-scenes topic of venture capital).

Raw but telling numbers:

 Only 8,3M$ 24H DEX trading volume which is ridiculous compared to its competitors above in the list(1st pic. - red frames)
 TVL is still decreasing - 61M$(2nd pic.)
 Strange chart with Daily Active(=unique sender addresses) Accounts(3rd pic.)

Track TVL and volume on DefiLama
Dig into TXs on NEAR Explorer
In all honesty, my hope is that NEAR will, eventually, be in much better shape as they built some great technical products (e.g. Rainbow Bridge was on fire) but have been unable to scale the blockchain as a product, at least so far.

When we take a closer look at the on-chain activity of NEAR in the context of its massive $500 million total fundraising, it becomes apparent that the project, **in its current state**, to put it lightly, screwed up. I have no idea how the business model and incentive mechanisms for users were designed in such a way that, after just one year, the network's activity is so lackluster - from trading to deposits. (*Actually, I do, but that's a separate behind-the-scenes topic of venture capital*).

Raw but telling numbers:

 - **Only 8,3M$** 24H DEX trading volume which is ridiculous compared to its competitors above in the list(1st pic. - red frames)
 - TVL is still decreasing - **61M$**(2nd pic.)
 - Strange chart with Daily Active(=unique sender addresses) Accounts(3rd pic.)

Track TVL and volume on [DefiLama](https://defillama.com/chain/Near)
Dig into TXs on [NEAR Explorer](https://explorer.near.org/stats)
___________________________________________
In all honesty, my hope is that NEAR will, eventually, be in much better shape as they built some great technical products (e.g. Rainbow Bridge was on fire) but have been unable to scale the blockchain as a product, at least so far.

EL Cap

One of the strongest teams on the market, they initially received funding not for a specific product, but for the team itself.

Founder and CEO Alexander Skidanov has over 10 years of experience in software development and product management.

Another team member, Michael Sanderson, previously worked at Google. Eva Bersan has experience in Intel and microprocessor development.

In terms of blockchain technology, the team is even better:
Ilya Polosukhin is the author of the TensorFlow library, which is used for machine learning development.
Artem Vorobiev, the project's chief architect, has over 10 years of experience in security and cryptographic solutions.

Even though the project is far from being a leader in terms of new projects and user growth, the team inspires confidence that the project will eventually succeed and find its place in the market.

Karlos

Recently, the team announced that it is becoming the Blockchain Operating System (BOS). The BOS is an industry-first category: a common layer for browsing and discovering open web experiences, compatible with any blockchain.

In short, NEAR wants to become the main hub between web2 and web3 for users and developers.

Users will be able to search for applications built on different blockchains in one convenient place. Developers, on the other hand, will be able to incorporate their preferred components into their frontend with just a few lines of code, regardless of which blockchain they are built on.

These are just the first steps that are available now, and it will be very interesting to see if the team can fully realize this idea.

Given the robust social metrics, a strong Twitter account, and a profound ecosystem with an extensive social community, I award Near Protocol a score of 5. The project's ability to engage effectively with its audience and foster a substantial and enthusiastic community speaks to its promising outlook and potential for growth.

The Twitter account associated with Near Protocol was created in August 2018 and has an impressive TweetScout Score of 2000 and TwitterScore of 404. These scores indicate a strong and active Twitter presence, demonstrating effective engagement and content dissemination.

Assessing Near Protocol's presence on other social media platforms, the following statistics are available:

Twitter: 1.3 million followers
Discord: 56.5k followers
Telegram: 54.8k followers
Reddit: 13.8k followers
YouTube: 17.6k subscribers

The total number of subscribers across all Near Protocol social networks surpasses 1.5 million, showcasing a significant and engaged community. Considering the presence of sub-ecosystem projects, the overall social networking community associated with Near Protocol can be estimated to be more than 2 million.

Official site: https://near.org/

DYOR. Not financial advice.

Given the robust social metrics, a strong Twitter account, and a profound ecosystem with an extensive social community, I award Near Protocol a score of 5. The project's ability to engage effectively with its audience and foster a substantial and enthusiastic community speaks to its promising outlook and potential for growth.

The Twitter account associated with Near Protocol was created in August 2018 and has an impressive TweetScout Score of 2000 and TwitterScore of 404. These scores indicate a strong and active Twitter presence, demonstrating effective engagement and content dissemination.

Assessing Near Protocol's presence on other social media platforms, the following statistics are available:

1. Twitter: 1.3 million followers
2. Discord: 56.5k followers
3. Telegram: 54.8k followers
4. Reddit: 13.8k followers
5. YouTube: 17.6k subscribers

The total number of subscribers across all Near Protocol social networks surpasses 1.5 million, showcasing a significant and engaged community. Considering the presence of sub-ecosystem projects, the overall social networking community associated with Near Protocol can be estimated to be more than 2 million.

Official site: https://near.org/

DYOR. Not financial advice.

Nick Cryptoware

The project is considered fundamental, and based on tokenomics and historical data, there is a potential for significant growth, even matching a 10x increase during the peak of the next bull run.

Despite recognizing the project's potential and fundamental qualities, I prefer to focus on fresher Layer 1 blockchains that employ the latest technologies, such as Aptos and Sui. I award NEAR Protocol a score of 4.

The NEAR Protocol, launched on April 22, 2020, has achieved significant milestones in its journey. Initially listed at $1.35 on October 14, 2020, it has since climbed in rankings to reach #33, boasting a market capitalization of $2 billion and a current price of $2.33. At its all-time high, NEAR reached an impressive $20.09.

With a limited token supply of 1 billion, the majority of NEAR tokens, accounting for 86%, are already in circulation. The project attracted notable investors during its ICO, including Electric, Pandora, A16Z (Andersen Horowitz), Coinbase, and over 20 other companies, raising $50 million in the process.

NEAR Protocol recently secured an impressive $350 million in funding in 2022, led by Tiger Global, with participation from Republic Capital, Hashed, FTX Ventures, Dragonfly Capital, and others. This new funding aims to enhance NEAR's presence by increasing the number of regional hubs globally.

Official site: https://near.org/

DYOR. Not financial advice.

The project is considered fundamental, and based on tokenomics and historical data, there is a potential for significant growth, even matching a 10x increase during the peak of the next bull run.

Despite recognizing the project's potential and fundamental qualities, I prefer to focus on fresher Layer 1 blockchains that employ the latest technologies, such as Aptos and Sui. I award NEAR Protocol a score of 4.

The NEAR Protocol, launched on April 22, 2020, has achieved significant milestones in its journey. Initially listed at $1.35 on October 14, 2020, it has since climbed in rankings to reach #33, boasting a market capitalization of $2 billion and a current price of $2.33. At its all-time high, NEAR reached an impressive $20.09.

With a limited token supply of 1 billion, the majority of NEAR tokens, accounting for 86%, are already in circulation. The project attracted notable investors during its ICO, including Electric, Pandora, A16Z (Andersen Horowitz), Coinbase, and over 20 other companies, raising $50 million in the process. 

NEAR Protocol recently secured an impressive $350 million in funding in 2022, led by Tiger Global, with participation from Republic Capital, Hashed, FTX Ventures, Dragonfly Capital, and others. This new funding aims to enhance NEAR's presence by increasing the number of regional hubs globally.

Official site: https://near.org/

DYOR. Not financial advice.

My assessment of NEAR's tokenomics:

Pros:

Offers excellent utility such as paying transaction fees, on-chain data storage, governance, and validator rewards.

NEAR burns 70% of the transaction cost to balance the 5% growth from validator incentives, with the other 30% going to the dApps that generated those fees.

Good number of nodes (800) and validators (204)

Daily transactions are over 400K

Cons:

The TVL peaked at nearly $500 million but dropped to $82.5 million, ranking them at #27. DefiLlama

The Mcap/TVL ratio is relatively high at 23.25 compared to other assets such as Polygon, BSC, Algorand, Ethereum, and Avalanche, which all have a Mcap/TVL below 10. Thus, there may be better, more undervalued assets in this space. DefiLlama

My assessment of NEAR's tokenomics:

Pros:

+ Offers excellent utility such as paying transaction fees, on-chain data storage, governance, and validator rewards.

+ NEAR burns 70% of the transaction cost to balance the 5% growth from validator incentives, with the other 30% going to the dApps that generated those fees.

+ Good number of nodes (800) and validators (204)

+ Daily transactions are over 400K

Cons:

+ The TVL peaked at nearly $500 million but dropped to $82.5 million, ranking them at #27. [DefiLlama]( https://defillama.com/chains)

+ The Mcap/TVL ratio is relatively high at 23.25 compared to other assets such as Polygon, BSC, Algorand, Ethereum, and Avalanche, which all have a Mcap/TVL below 10. Thus, there may be better, more undervalued assets in this space. [DefiLlama]( https://defillama.com/chains)

D3Young

I'd rate the Near project with a score of 4. While it demonstrates qualities of a quality Layer 1 blockchain, its relatively low user adoption and EVM incompatibility hinder its full potential. With continued development and strategic improvements, Near may be able to capitalize on its strengths and address the obstacles it faces.

The Near blockchain stands as a decentralized application platform, akin to ETH, ATOM, DOT, and SOL. It sets itself apart by being built in the RUST language and utilizing a PoS consensus mechanism, which aims to deliver scalability and stable transaction fees through sharding.

Near boasts key metrics that showcase its potential: achieving a remarkable 100,000 transactions per second, surpassing the speeds of Visa, Atom, Solana, and ETH. Transaction fees are significantly lower than ETH, a factor of 10,000. With 53 validators on the Near network, it ensures a secure and reliable operation. The blockchain caters to both developers and users, with its user-friendly interface and utilization of modular components, enabling quick execution of smart contracts.

Near appears to have struggled to gain widespread user adoption, evidenced by a relatively low number of users engaging with the platform. According to Defillama, the total value locked (TVL) stands at $84M, suggesting that more efforts may be required to attract greater interest and investment. One factor contributing to this might be the lack of EVM compatibility, which presents challenges for developers accustomed to Ethereum's ecosystem.

The project has not gone unnoticed, with even Vitalik Buterin acknowledging Near as a genuine competitor to ETH. The presence of a bridge with Ethereum, called Rainbow Bridge, adds versatility and connectivity to the platform.

Official site: https://near.org/

DYOR. Not Financial Advice.

I'm torn between 4 and 5 stars. Near has borrowed a lot of the best elements from some of the leading blockchain projects and incorporated it into their own to create a very solid product. They have also made clever improvements like Randomized Block Proposers, which makes it more decentralized than other POS networks and dynamic validator sets, which allows the consensus mechanism to be adjusted as the network grows and requirements change.

One of their main contributions is a more scalable blockchain, which is achieved through sharding. However, instead of sharding via sidechains they partition the network into smaller sub-networks that process transactions in parallel and communicate with each other. This allows for better scalability without compromising on decentralization or security (but it compromizes on flexibility. (See image attached)

These are all good things. In my opinion it's lacking a game changing innovation of its own. They mention that the rainbow bridge is the world's first trustless bridge. But their docs say it depends on  "relayers, which run on traditional servers", which makes them centralized and therefore not trustless as far as I understand. I would love it if someone can convince me that the rainbow bridge really is trustless.

Anyways, I'll still give them 5 stars because I think their sharding model will offer a more decentralized and secure option in a future of scaled blockchains, and decentralization is the whole point of blockchain.

I'm torn between 4 and 5 stars. Near has borrowed a lot of the best elements from some of the leading blockchain projects and incorporated it into their own to create a very solid product. They have also made clever improvements like Randomized Block Proposers, which makes it more decentralized than other POS networks and dynamic validator sets, which allows the consensus mechanism to be adjusted as the network grows and requirements change. 

One of their main contributions is a more scalable blockchain, which is achieved through sharding. However, instead of sharding via sidechains they partition the network into smaller sub-networks that process transactions in parallel and communicate with each other. This allows for better scalability without compromising on decentralization or security (but it compromizes on flexibility. (See image attached)
 
These are all good things. In my opinion it's lacking a game changing innovation of its own. They mention that the rainbow bridge is the world's first trustless bridge. But their docs say it depends on  "relayers, which run on traditional servers", which makes them centralized and therefore not trustless as far as I understand. I would love it if someone can convince me that the rainbow bridge really is trustless.

Anyways, I'll still give them 5 stars because I think their sharding model will offer a more decentralized and secure option in a future of scaled blockchains, and decentralization is the whole point of blockchain.

NEAR Protocol NEAR

Scaling Focused L1