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NEAR Protocol Soars 7.3%, Is It Poised To Go Higher?

As the crypto industry navigates the waves of this bull run, projects like NEAR Protocol (NEAR) are edging forward with new partnerships and developments. NEAR’s remarkable performance has crypto analysts considering that the toke is getting underway for a massive surge.

Is NEAR Protocol A “Market Leader”?

At the beginning of the week, crypto analyst World of Charts recognized a bullish flag pattern formed on NEAR’s monthly chart. According to the analyst, a successful breakout could be followed by a 60-65% bullish wave in the coming days.

On Thursday, NEAR tested the $7.00 resistance level, reaching above the $7.50 mark before retracing as the day ended.

NEAR Protocol, crypto

Affirming his previous forecast, the analyst stated that if the token successfully holds above the breakout level, investors could expect the price to move towards $14-$15. Since then, the token has remained above the $7.00 mark, hovering between $7.3-$7.1.

Another crypto analyst has been following NEAR’s performance this week similarly. According to Bluntz, the token “has been one of the strongest movers from the lows and will probably be one of the first to make fresh highs.”

Moreover, he considers NEAR “one of the better performers” in the top 20 cryptocurrencies. Previously, the trader displayed a chart identifying an ABC zigzag pattern followed by a still-forming impulse wave pattern.

NEAR; crypto analyst

As NEAR broke out of the $7,00 resistance, the analyst reaffirmed his prediction for the token’s movements, considering it “a market leader right now.”

Bluntz added that the token kept “plodding along making fresh highs while everything else has stalled out and continued accumulating.”

Network Expansion And Price Surge

The NEAR Protocol is a Layer-1 “user-friendly and carbon-neutral” blockchain focused on performance, security, and scalability. According to its team, the “blockchain for everyone” was built with “usability in mind.”

NEAR’s total value locked (TVL) of $309 million makes it the 16th largest blockchain by this metric. Notably, the network has doubled its TVL since Q4 2023, when it sat in the 25th spot with $128 million.

The protocol collaborates with other projects constantly to continue “expanding financial horizons.” Projects like NodeKit and TrueZK have recently integrated NEAR’s solution designed for Ethereum rollups, NEAR DA.

Similarly, on Thursday, it announced its partnership with Colombian fintech Lulo X and Peersyst Technology “to redefine the parameters of digital finance.” These collaborations have been seemingly well-received by the NEAR community.

Despite being down by 6.25% in the monthly time frame and 65% below its all-time high (ATH) of $20,44 set in January 2022, the blockchain’s token has shown a remarkable performance during this bull run. In the last three months, NEAR has soared over 146%.

Moreover, the token’s daily trading volume has increased by 6.5% in the past day, with over $800 million traded. Likewise, its market capitalization has risen 5% during the same timeframe, making it the 17th biggest cryptocurrency by this metric.

As of this writing, NEAR is trading at $7.2, representing a 7.3% jump in the last 24 hours and a 26% rise in the past week.

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Breakout Of The Year? Crypto Analyst Predicts Where NEAR Is Headed Next

The price of Near Protocol’s native token, NEAR, has been on an upward momentum recently, with a crypto analyst projecting further price increases and suggesting that the coin could see a surge to more than $10 soon.

Near Protocol Price Poised For $10 Surge

Popular crypto trader and analyst, identified as Bluntz on X (formerly Twitter) has unveiled a major price prediction for NEAR. The analyst disclosed that the price of NEAR is exhibiting historical patterns indicative of a bullish rally, potentially surpassing $10.

Bluntz, a pseudonymous analyst known for his eerily accurate prediction of Bitcoin (BTC) in June 2018, forecasted that the price of BTC would hit a bottom out at $3,200 after reaching an all-time high of $20,000 at the time. True to his foresight, Bitcoin dropped to around the projected price target by December of the same year. 

Now, using technical analysis based on the Elliott Wave principle, Bluntz has shared a price chart displaying Near protocol’s potential rally to over $10. 

The Elliott Wave theory, developed by Ralph Nelson Elliott is a technical methodology that analyzes recurrent and long-term price patterns related to persistent changes in investor sentiment and psychology. This technical tool is used to predict the price movements of cryptocurrencies based on greed and fear. 

Bluntz provided two charts depicting Near Protocol’s price movements against Tether (USDT) and another against Bitcoin. 

In both charts, Near Protocol had undergone a sequence of price fluctuations, moving between green and red zones before exhibiting strong price fundamentals that could potentially propel its price above $10. The crypto analyst has pinpointed a projected timeline for this price surge around mid April, specifically before the 15th.

Insights Into NEAR’s Recent Price Movements

Over the past month, the price of Near Protocol has been on a steady upward trend, boasting an impressive 26% increase. Moreover, the cryptocurrency’s total market capitalization has risen by over 6%, accompanied by a 25% increase in its 24-hour trading volume. 

At the time of writing, Near Protocol is trading at $7.09, reflecting a significant increase of 5.89% in just one day, according to CoinMarketCap. These developments highlight the increasing appeal and demand for the popular token within the dynamic crypto space.

Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of Near Protocol has also commended the NEAR team’s consistent efforts in maintaining the cryptocurrency’s steady growth and development over the past few months. Polosukhin noted that due to the team’s dedication, Near Protocol’s capacity has surged by 50%, ensuring a more effective network to serve users. 

Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView

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Zooming NEAR: Solid 75% Growth Sparks Crypto Frenzy

Cryptocurrency analysts are abuzz with chatter surrounding NEAR Protocol (NEAR) as the token experiences a meteoric rise in value. The past month has been nothing short of phenomenal for NEAR, with its price leaping by an impressive 130%.

Will NEAR Hit $8?

This surge, which translates to an impressive $7.91 per token at the time of writing, has not gone unnoticed, igniting a firestorm of interest and speculation within the investment community. But is this a genuine upswing or simply a fleeting fad?

Breaking A Downtrend Or Chasing A Fad?

While some analysts, like the prominent Rekt Capital, view this surge as a potential reversal of a multi-year downtrend, others urge caution. The cryptocurrency market, after all, is notorious for its wild fluctuations. A token’s price can reach dizzying heights only to come crashing down just as quickly.

Forecast: Bullish With A Side Of Caution

Analysts have forecasted a bullish trend for NEAR in the immediate future. Their prediction suggests a 10% increase, placing the price at around $7.48 by March 13, 2024.

This projected increase comes with a market capitalization of $7.65 billion and a notable 24-hour trading volume of $2.2 billion. However, forecasts, as some experts point out, should be viewed with a critical eye. The market is an intricate web of factors, and unforeseen events can easily derail even the most meticulously crafted predictions.

Technical Indicators, Market Sentiment

Technical indicators, while offering valuable insights, should not be the sole basis for investment decisions. The Fear and Greed Index, currently hovering at an “extreme greed” of 82 for NEAR, paints a picture of a market potentially fueled by euphoria rather than sound judgment.

Investors piling in solely based on such sentiment, with NEAR having already surged 8.06% in the last 24 hours, might be setting themselves up for disappointment if a correction were to occur.

Beyond The Hype: Examining NEAR’s Potential

However, dismissing NEAR’s potential entirely would be unwise. To understand this, we need to examine thoroughly. NEAR Protocol is a blockchain platform designed to address scalability issues that have plagued older blockchain technologies like Ethereum.

NEAR boasts features like sharding, a method for distributing processing power across a network of computers, to facilitate faster transaction speeds and lower fees.

This focus on scalability has attracted the attention of developers seeking to build decentralized applications (dApps) on a platform that can handle high volumes of traffic. Several promising dApps are already being built on NEAR, including DeFi (decentralized finance) protocols and NFT (non-fungible token) marketplaces.

A thriving ecosystem of dApps could be a key driver of long-term growth for NEAR. Crypto experts, drawing insights from the price fluctuations observed at the onset of 2023, have formulated an average projected NEAR rate of $10.06 for March 2024.

While this average is a benchmark, fluctuations within the market suggest potential variations, with the minimum expected price hovering around $9.8 and the maximum reaching $10.2. Considering these forecasts, investors may be enticed by the potential return on investment (ROI) of 35%, indicative of the promising growth prospects for Near Protocol in the coming months.

Featured image from Pexels, chart from TradingView

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NEAR To Rise Even Higher According To These Analysts, Can It Hit $10?

NEAR, the native token of the Layer 1 (L1) public blockchain NEAR Protocol, has substantially risen during this bull run after registering remarkable gains since the end of 2023.

As the price of Bitcoin continues to soar, NEAR has recorded an over 130% price surge in the past month, and analysts forecast that the bullish momentum isn’t over yet.

 Analyst Foresees NEAR’s Next Leg Up Coming Soon

At the end of 2023, the NEAR token showed a remarkable performance by doubling its price in mid-December. Since then, the crypto market has been propelled to heights like those seen during the last bull run.

NEAR continued its growth alongside the market, and crypto analyst Altcoin Sherpa considers that the gains for the token are far from over.

In an X (former Twitter) post, the analyst shared a chart showing NEAR’s performance in the last few days. This performance displays the token has oscillated between two levels since yesterday.

NEAR hovered between the $6.7- $7.17 price range for the past 24 hours, Altcoin Sherpa’s chart shows. As the analyst highlights, this is the “consolidation for the next leg up” coming soon.

Previously, Sherpa warned about the $6.9 price level being a “danger area approaching.” However, the token broke that resistance level over the weekend.

Moreover, crypto trader and analyst Rekt Capital shared a chart showing that NEAR revisited its multi-year macro downtrend. Breaking above it would further fuel the bullish momentum that could drive the price to revisit its all-time high (ATH) resistance area of $20.

Are $10 Coming Soon?

NEAR has been closely following Bitcoin’s price performance during the past week. As the chart below shows, in the last 24 hours, the token’s price has closely followed the trajectory of the flagship cryptocurrency.

BTC; BTCUSDT, NEAR

At writing time, NEAR is trading at $7.3, a 4.2% surge in the past hour. The token registered a stellar 67.8% and 83.1% price surge in the weekly and bi-weekly timeframe.

Crypto trader Doctor Profit foresees NEAR to reach $10 soon, as his previous prediction of the token reaching this price by the end of the year seems closer than expected.

That the token’s price of $3 was easily doubled in a matter of days. This suggests to the analyst that NEAR’s next goal of $10 will come very soon.

As optimistic predictions continue, the token’s market cap of $7.74 billion shows a 7.7% growth in the last day. By this metric, NEAR is inside the top 20 largest cryptocurrencies, currently being the 19th, according to CoinMarketCap data.

However, the daily trading volume has dropped 20% in the last 24 hours, with $993.5 million traded. This hints at a recent decline in market activity despite the positive performance and community support.

NEAR, NEARUSDT

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NEAR Skyrockets Nearly 30% – Investors Intrigued By These Metrics

NEAR has consistently followed the market trend since the start of the year. The latest market data shows the token is up nearly 30% bi-weekly. This is evidence that investors are still hyped by the recent growth featured within the broader market and the recent developments on the NEAR Protocol. 

Account Aggregation: What’s The Gist? 

NEAR is continuing its mission to be the one-all-be-all for entry-level and professional entities within Web 3. Account aggregation, or the consolidation of Web 3 and crypto accounts into one NEAR account, is their current focus. 

Account aggregation is, according to their most recent blog post, a “critical pillar of advancing Chain Abstraction.” 

It essentially groups every single account you have across the crypto world into a single access point: your NEAR Protocol account. The technology is still in development, but it seems to incite excitement in investors.

If NEAR can implement this innovation seamlessly within its ecosystem and beyond, it will cement itself to be a true innovator within the DeFi and Web 3 space. 

According to a recent development overview done by Reflexivity Research, NEAR’s position allows it to be the bridge of all bridges within the crypto space.

By distilling various blockchains to create a seamlessly integrated Web3 encounter, the advantages extend beyond mere enhancements in user experience. This approach has the potential to not only enhance UX but also diminish liquidity fragmentation and tribalism inherent in a decentralized crypto ecosystem constructed around disconnected, isolated blockchains, as underscored in a response by NEAR to a Reflexivity post on X.

In simple terms, NEAR’s recent development can unite the fragmented Web 3 space, onboarding new users and bringing new growth to the crypto world. 

NEAR Approaching A Possible Ceiling

In its current situation, NEAR is following Bitcoin very closely in its price changes. Investors should then be careful of possible pitfalls within Bitcoin’s bullish market that may affect NEAR’s ability to climb. 

If bearishness does take over the market, investors can rely on the $2.8 price level to slow down any bearish attempt in the short to medium term. However, investors and traders should try and consolidate on this line if NEAR follows any downward pressure from the broader market. 

Featured image from Adobe Stock, chart from TradingView

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NEAR Protocol’s Expansion: Q4 2023 Shows 1,250% Rise In Daily Active Addresses

NEAR Protocol, the Blockchain Operating System (BOS), experienced significant growth in key metrics during the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2023. The protocol’s native token, NEAR, recorded a remarkable 16% year-to-date growth and witnessed a surge in adoption. 

Circulating Market Cap Soars 245%

According to a Messari report, the entire crypto market cap increased in Q4 2023, largely driven by the anticipation surrounding the introduction of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). 

NEAR actively participated in the overall market rally and achieved additional gains due to its heightened network activity and significant announcements. As a result, NEAR’s circulating market cap for the end of 2023 reached $3.7 billion, marking a 245% increase quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) and a 246% increase year-on-year (YoY). 

crypto

Furthermore, NEAR’s fully diluted market cap reached $4.3 billion. The protocol’s market cap ranking also soared, climbing 10 places to reach approximately 30th by the end of 2023.

In Q4 2023, NEAR’s revenue grew substantially, primarily generated from network transaction fees, reaching $750,000. The increase in revenue was attributed to the heightened activity generated by projects such as KAIKAINOW and NEAR Inscriptions. 

During the Inscriptions craze, revenue surged due to a transaction spike, driving up transaction fees. Notably, NEAR employs a fee-burning mechanism, where 70% of all fees are burned, while the remaining 30% is directed to the contract from which the transaction originated.

NEAR User Base Skyrockets

Another key metric demonstrating the protocol’s growth in Q4 2023 is that NEAR experienced significant growth in its user base. 

Average daily active addresses increased by 1,250% YoY, reaching 870,000 in Q4 2023. In addition, the number of daily new addresses grew by a remarkable 550% YoY to 170,000 in Q4 2023. 

NEAR

According to Messari, this expansion comes after the successful launch and adoption of projects such as KAIKAINOW and contributions from the Sweat Economy, Aurora, and Playember, which further supported this positive trend.

NEAR’s daily active addresses were notably higher than those of other leading blockchain networks. For example, Optimism averaged 72,000 daily active addresses, Arbitrum 150,000, Polygon PoS 375,000, and Aptos 60,000 in Q4 2023.

NEAR Inscriptions significantly drove network activity, reaching a yearly high of 14 million transactions in December. Despite this substantial increase, transaction fees remained stable, staying below $0.01 for the quarter. 

Top 25 Blockchain By TVL In Q4 2023

NEAR’s Total Value Locked (TVL) reached $128 million by the end of Q4 2023, marking a remarkable 147% increase from the previous quarter. Among blockchains, NEAR positioned itself at approximately 25th place regarding TVL. 

Within the NEAR Network’s TVL, NEAR contributed $59 million, accounting for nearly 46% of the total TVL on the network. The remaining TVL was distributed across various decentralized finance (DeFi) applications, including Aurora, Ref, Berry Club, and Flux.

NEAR

Additionally, NEAR announced partnerships with projects such as Chainlink and decentralized exchange (DEX) SushiSwap. 

According to Messari, the integration with Chainlink’s decentralized oracle network provided NEAR developers with access to real-world data and external Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), enhancing the functionality and usability of NEAR-based applications. 

On the other hand, the collaboration with SushiSwap allowed NEAR users to access a wide range of token swaps, liquidity pools, and yield farming opportunities, enabling developer adoption and increased usage within the ecosystem. 

Ultimately, looking ahead to 2024, Messari said the protocol’s vision is to iterate the technology roadmap, attract more developers, and attract more leading protocols. 

NEAR

Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com

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NEAR: 3 Reasons This Crypto Is Up 80% While Others Hibernate In The Run-Up To 2024

In the prevailing bearish backdrop of the broader cryptocurrency market, NEAR Protocol (NEAR) emerges as a noteworthy exception, showcasing remarkable resilience and defying the prevailing downtrend. Its trajectory has been one of sustained upward momentum, a trend that notably took root around mid-December and has continued to gather strength.

Unlike the general market sentiment characterized by a downturn, NEAR has not only weathered the storm but has surged impressively. Over the last seven days, the cryptocurrency has experienced a significant 80% increase in value, a feat that has not gone unnoticed by market participants and enthusiasts alike.

This surge has effectively propelled NEAR to double its base value, which stood at $4.24, signaling a robust and impressive performance in contrast to the prevailing market conditions.

Here are three reasons why this token is thawing in the run-up to 2024:

NEAR: Technical Resilience

NEAR’s upward trajectory is not a mere coincidence but is supported by robust technical indicators. A decisive price breakout on December 21st shattered a crucial resistance level at $4.0, paving the way for sustained growth.

This breakout generated warmth for further price appreciation. Furthermore, an ascending trendline, currently positioned at $3.7, acts as a reliable support against potential downward movements.

The Average Directional Index (ADX) at 40% signals potential buyer exhaustion but also indicates a healthy correction for long-term bullishness, portraying an enduring technical strength that is not easily extinguished.

Community Momentum

NEAR’s success is not a solitary achievement; it is a result of a thriving community. The trading volume has surged impressively by 170% over the past week, reaching over $410 million on December 25th alone.

This surge in trading activity underscores the growing investor confidence. Open Interest (OI), representing future buying potential, has also surpassed $140 million, reflecting a shared optimism that NEAR’s flame is burning bright.

This fervent belief adds fuel to the fire, attracting a considerable number of new participants—over 48,000 in the past week—drawn to the warmth of the NEAR ecosystem.

Future Roadmap

Looking ahead, NEAR’s future appears ablaze with ambitious plans outlined in its 2024 development roadmap. These plans include high-speed transactions exceeding 100,000 per second, enhanced scalability to eliminate bottlenecks, and the introduction of innovative dApps like Nightshade 2.0, promising enhanced privacy and security.

These developments solidify NEAR’s position as a frontrunner in the crypto space, leaving competitors in the shadows and envying its progress.

NEAR’s ability to withstand the challenges of the current market makes it a beacon of hope for investors seeking both warmth and growth. As market conditions gradually improve, NEAR is poised to breach the $5 barrier, representing a potential 30% increase from its current price.

This outlook is likely to attract those yearning to escape the chill of the crypto winter, further cementing NEAR’s position as a noteworthy player in the evolving crypto landscape.

Featured image from Shutterstock

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NEAR Hits New High Since 2022 – Will The Bears Get In The Way? 

The past two months have been a green flag for the broader crypto market in the run-up to the festive season. Although the hype has since cooled down, a few outliers continue to follow the upward trend. NEAR is one of those tokens that aren’t showing signs of cooling down.

According to Coingecko, the token is up nearly 8% in the daily, with the biggest jump being at 23% in the weekly timeframe. With this price ascent, NEAR just reached a new high of $2.81. The token hit its all-time high of $20.42 in January 2022. 

The token’s market capitalization has likewise ballooned significantly, currently priced around $2.8 billion. Several on-chain integrations power this new wave of bullishness for NEAR. 

NEAR: Monolithic And Modular?

Recently, eyes are on NEAR as it continues to improve its systems. According to a Medium article last week, the protocol is implementing more changes to become what they call “a monolithic going modular” blockchain. 

“In a monolithic blockchain, all four functions are executed by the same set of nodes. This has some benefits, such as high security, easier deployment, and potentially improved utility for users thanks to the ability to specialize the entire network,” the Medium article said. 

Although the NEAR team says that the token is a monolothic chain, its implementation of sharding do not overwhelm individual validators. However, this isn’t enough for users as both users and developers quickly realized that publishing on Ethereum becomes an expensive ordeal. 

But NEAR DA aims to change that. 

NEAR DA (“DA” meaning data availability) will give rollup operators access to NEAR’s storage capacity. 

“NEAR runs four shards with roughly 16MB throughput a second. Assuming 100 bytes per transaction, you can store quite a significant amount of your data on NEAR at a fraction of the cost of publishing to NEAR,” the article explained.

As of writing, only a handful of rollups are using NEAR DA; namely Caldera, Fluent, and Movement Labs. Once this capability is in the hands of commercial users and other rollup operators, NEAR will be able to increase exposure to other investors. 

Meanwhile, according to Artemis data, there has been a significant increase in network activity on the NEAR blockchain since the beginning of the month.

The data source claims that there has been a 975% increase in the daily count of unique wallet addresses sending on-chain transactions on the network.

How Does This Affect NEAR’s Price? 

As of now, the token is on its way to break through $2.90 price ceiling. However, it seems that the January 2022 high of $20.42 will be a tough nut to crack as the bears mount a strong defense. But the advent of strong on-chain development along with good market conditions will bring more bullishness in the short to medium-term. 

For now, investors and traders should brace for a possible correction towards $2.25 once the hype starts to settle down. 

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NEAR Foundation And Eigen Labs Team Up To Improve Web3 Transactions On Ethereum Rollups

The NEAR Foundation has announced a strategic partnership with Eigen Labs, a startup focused on building the Ethereum restaking protocol Eigen Layer. 

While addressing the challenges of liquidity fragmentation between Layer 2 (L2) solutions, the collaboration aims to reinvent Ethereum (ETH) roll-up transactions, making them “more cost-effective and efficient.”

Rapid And Affordable Ethereum Transactions? 

In a joint statement released on November 10, the NEAR Foundation and Eigen Labs unveiled their plans to develop a “fast finality layer” to power rapid and inexpensive transactions for Ethereum rollups, including cross-rollup transactions. 

Per the announcement, the collaboration seeks to significantly reduce transaction processing times to a mere 3-4 seconds, a notable improvement compared to the minutes, hours, or even days it currently takes. Moreover, it aims to make transactions 4000 times cheaper than existing options, providing a cost advantage for users.

Furthermore, one of the partnership’s key objectives is to establish “secure and low-latency” cross-rollup communication, resolving the challenges faced by developers and founders working with rollups. 

As announced, the Fast Finality Layer will maintain the “security guarantees” of Ethereum while introducing additional guarantees from the NEAR and EigenLayer technologies.

Both protocols believe this solution promises to enhance liquidity by reducing fragmentation between Layer-2 solutions, empowering developers to make informed decisions regarding the sequencers they prefer for transaction processing.

NEAR And Eigen Labs Partnership For ‘Seamless Web3 Integration’

Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of NEAR Protocol, expressed pride in partnering with Eigen Labs, emphasizing that the fast finality layer showcases the technological strengths of NEAR while making the Open Web more user-friendly. Polosukhin further stated:

NEAR Foundation is proud to partner with such an excellent team as Eigen Labs to offer a fast finality layer for ETH rollups. The fast finality layer showcases the strengths of NEAR’s technology while making the Open Web more usable, which has always been the core goal for NEAR. It will also help defragment liquidity for Ethereum rollups and make all of Web3 more interoperable as a result.

For his part, Sreeram Kannan, founder of Eigen Labs, shared his enthusiasm for the partnership and highlighted the mutual benefits it brings. In his words, the collaboration will leverage the innovative technologies of both NEAR and EigenLayer, enabling faster, cheaper, and easier development on the Ethereum network.

The collaboration between NEAR and Eigen Labs marks a significant milestone for EigenLayer, as it enables fast settlement for cross-rollup transactions and demonstrates wider adoption of restaking across the Ethereum ecosystem and beyond. 

For NEAR, the partnership extends to enhancing the NEAR-Ethereum Rainbow Bridge by transitioning it to an actively validated service (AVS). This transition is expected to enhance bridging capabilities between NEAR and Ethereum, enabling faster transaction finality, increased security guarantees, and improved decentralization.

The collaboration is expected to launch a testnet in Q1 2024, and further details will be shared then. This partnership between the NEAR Foundation and Eigen Labs holds great promise for advancing Ethereum rollup transactions, improving liquidity, and driving the broader adoption of Web3 technologies.

NEAR

Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com 

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Polygon Labs And NEAR Foundation Partner For zkWasm L2 Prover Integration

Polygon Labs (MATIC) and the NEAR Foundation have recently announced their collaboration on the development of a zero-knowledge (ZK) prover for the WebAssembly (Wasm) blockchain.  

The alliance aims to “bridge the gap” between Wasm-based chains and the Ethereum ecosystem, providing customization and options for developers building with the Polygon CDK (Chain Development Kit).

NEAR Foundation Joins Polygon As Core Contributor

According to Polygon Labs’ announcement, introducing a zkWasm prover will enable developers utilizing Polygon CDK to choose from various provers when building their projects.

This can be leveraged in various scenarios, including launching or migrating an Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) chain or constructing a Wasm chain for closer alignment with Ethereum and access to liquidity. 

The zkWasm prover will serve as a new runtime, generating zero-knowledge proofs that validate the correctness of native Wasm runtime execution. This advancement is expected to enhance scalability and decentralization, bringing the NEAR protocol closer to Ethereum.

As part of this partnership, the NEAR Foundation is set to become a core contributor to Polygon CDK, expanding the toolkit’s capabilities for developers.

Sandeep Nailwal, the co-founder of Polygon, expressed pride in collaborating with NEAR on this research and emphasized the value of the zkWasm prover in providing developers with increased customization options. 

To provide further context, WebAssembly is a widely used framework for running complex programs in web browsers, offering performance comparable to native computer applications. In the context of Web3, the Wasm Virtual Machine serves as a runtime for blockchains like NEAR and Polkadot, differing from the Ethereum Virtual Machine.

Scalability And Decentralization Boost?

Per the announcement, in the future, an in-development interop layer will allow chains to join a unified ecosystem of Layer 2 solutions deployed through Polygon CDK. 

This ecosystem will encompass alternative layer-1 chains, EVM layer-2 solutions, and Wasm chains, providing interoperability and defragmentation of liquidity across different chains.

Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of NEAR Protocol, expressed optimism about the collaboration, emphasizing that it will bring the benefits of zero-knowledge proofs not only to NEAR but to the entire Web3 ecosystem. Polosukhin stated:

We are very excited to work with Polygon Labs to bring all the benefits of zero-knowledge proofs not just to NEAR but all of Web3. NEAR is integrating more with Ethereum by innovating in new research frontiers, and the shared expertise of these two teams will bring a much-needed expansion of the ZK landscape and defragmentation of liquidity across chains. And by creating and using the zkWasm prover, NEAR will also improve the scalability and decentralization of the NEAR L1.

Overall, the collaboration between Polygon Labs and the NEAR Foundation holds significant implications for both protocols. Integrating the zkWasm prover will enhance the capabilities of Polygon CDK, providing developers with more options in building “custom blockchains.” 

Additionally, it will bring NEAR Protocol closer to Ethereum, expanding its interoperability and liquidity opportunities. 

Polygon

As of the latest update, MATIC, the native token of Polygon, is on the verge of reaching the $0.800 level, a milestone that has not been attained since July. The token currently trades at $0.7903, showcasing a noteworthy upward trajectory. 

This positive movement is further bolstered by an impressive 11% uptrend recorded over the past 24 hours. 

Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com