Take A Closer Look at the Near Ecosystem.
In our previous article about Near, we took a closer look at the protocol and its functionalities. In this article, we will take a closer look at the Near Ecosystem.
The Near Ecosystem
A core thesis of Near’s emphasis as a protocol is accessibility, usability, and exceptional user experience– an emphasis which has allowed the protocol to cultivate a dedicated community in a short time. Near has also prioritized ecosystem funding support, which has certainly bolstered community growth and application development along the way.
The Near ecosystem currently has almost 900 active projects, at the time of writing, with notable monthly growth.
Selected Project Highlights
Aurora
Aurora, a NEAR spin-off, creates a 1:1 EVM implementation on NEAR. This means that developers on Ethereum can essentially copy and paste their Solidity code onto Aurora, taking advantage of NEAR’s low transaction fees, fast finality, and eventually, horizontal scaling.
Aurora arguably provides a similar experience to an Ethereum Layer 2, though it does not inherit its security from the Ethereum network. Instead, Aurora runs as a smart contract on top of NEAR and leverages NEAR’s validators. Hence, Aurora is more comparable to Ethereum-compatible environments on other L1s, such as Avalanche’s C-Chain and Polkadot’s Moonbeam.
Octopus
Octopus has a similar modular multichain vision as Polkadot and Cosmos. It aims to build an infrastructure layer to enable application-specific blockchains (called “appchains”) built with its novel “Substrate” tech stack.
An Octopus appchain is a blockchain with independent consensus, but it entrusts PoS security to the Octopus Network using Octopus tokens ($OCT) as the staking asset. And unlike Cosmos or Polkadot, Octopus’ cross-chain hub that coordinates activity among its appchains is not an L1 blockchain but rather a set of NEAR smart contracts.
Other Projects
Stablecoins
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies that are designed with a mechanism to keep their price pegged to a certain reference asset. The most widely-used stablecoins are pegged to the U.S. Dollar, though there are stablecoins pegged to a variety of fiat currencies, exchange-traded commodities, or other cryptocurrencies.
The native launch of the two largest USD stablecoins, USDT & USDC, on the Near network in September 2022 has had a significant impact on the ecosystem, enabling material improvements in DeFi dApp experience. Near also has support for major stablecoins such as DAI and TUSD.
Near launched its first native stablecoin, USN, in April this year– an algorithmic stablecoin backed by $NEAR and $USDT. The NEAR used to generate the USN will be transferred to the Reserved Fund, which is automatically balanced to maintain a collateralization ratio of greater than 100%.
Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs)
With stablecoins, if an investor is interested in buying or selling other tokens, they will typically do so via a DEX or CEX– Decentralized Exchange, or Centralized Exchange. For this reason, DEXs are an indispensable cornerstone of a DeFi ecosystem, as the source of liquidity for all trading activities.
The Near ecosystem also has many important DEX projects.
Ref Finance
Ref Finance is one of the most important dex projects in Near’s DeFi ecosystem. The main value proposition of the project is to combine the functionalities of a DEX, a lending protocol, and synthetic assets into a unified DeFi platform.
Trisolaris
Trisolaris originated as a fork of the popular Ethereum DEX SushiSwap and is an AMM currently providing liquidity incentives in both $TRI tokens and select project tokens (such as $AURORA and $FLX). The protocol’s native $TRI tokens can be staked for $xTRI, which earn 0.05% of the fees on every trade on the DEX. The team is also exploring a vote-escrow structure, similar to Curve’s, and the addition of stablecoin swaps.
Jumbo Finance
Jumbo is intended to be a user-friendly exchange, with the goal of removing the frequent challenges that consumers face when navigating Decentralized Exchanges. Jumbo also offers simple features to help users maximize their yield.
Lending & Borrowing
Lending and borrowing is another foundational aspect of DeFi and of the Near ecosystem. Most holders prefer not just to hold crypto tokens, but also to leverage them to earn as much yield as possible. Users either borrow tokens to employ in trading strategies, or lend them to earn stable passive income.
Burrow
Incubated by Proximity Labs, a DeFi research firm focused on the NEAR ecosystem, Burrow is an interest rate protocol that allows users to borrow and lend interest-bearing assets, including liquid staking tokens such as staked NEAR ($stNEAR) and staked ETH ($stETH). It borrows Alchemix’s framework of “self-repaying loans” by using the interest paid from deposited collateral to gradually pay down debt.
Aurigami
Describing itself as Aurora’s “native money-market”, Aurigami is straightforward, decentralized, non-custodial liquidity protocol that enables users borrow assets or lend to earn yield on the assets they own.
Bastion
Bastion is a decentralized lending protocol built on an efficient, proprietary algorithm that adjusts interest rates based on supply and demand. The protocol is based on Compound and is built on Aurora. Bastion also offers a Stableswap, allowing for the low-cost trading of pegged assets, and liquidity provision with low impermanent loss.
Wallets
Sender Wallet
Sender is a non-custodial wallet to store, buy, send, and stake assets, as well as interacting in various DeFi dApps. Sender offers both a mobile wallet and browser extension.
MyNEARWallet
MyNEAR Wallet is a non-custodial browser extension wallet to store, buy, send, and stake assets, as well as interacting in various DeFi dApps.
NFT Marketplaces
Paras
NFT Marketplace for Digital Collectibles on the Near protocol. Users can Buy, Sell, and Mint NFTs, as well as conduct research on NFT holders and analyze transaction activity. 70% of the marketplace’s 2% transaction fees are returned to stakers of the platform’s utility token $PARAS.
Gaming
Sweatcoin
Sweatcoin is a move-to-earn fitness tracking mobile application that rewards users for their exercise by paying them in the project’s token, SWEAT. SWEAT can be exchanged for a variety of goods and services, donated, or used for peer-to-peer payments. Sweat Economy that develops the Sweatcoin platform prides itself on introducing users to Web3 through gamification, as well as increasing activity and improving global health through open-source mechanisms.
HASH RUSH
HASH RUSH is an online sci-fi/fantasy RTS game set in the fictional Hermeian galaxy. Players build, fight, and trade their way to victory as they grow and manage their small mining colony, battle monsters, and trade valuable items and resources.
Additional Resources
- Awesome NEAR: Curated list of all projects building on NEAR’s platform
- The Aurora Community: List of all projects in the Aurora ecosystem
- NEAR Community Forum, which includes weekly community and engineering updates
- TVL for NEAR and Aurora by Defi Llama
- NEAR Wiki
- NEAR’s Block Explorer
- Aurora’s Block Explorer
- NEAR Development Roadmap
Where Can NEAR Be Purchased?
NEAR can be accessed quickly and with low fees on the WhaleFin app or web platform both via one-click Swap and Spot purchase.
Earn With Your NEAR
Fixed Earn
- With the WhaleFin Fixed Earn product, you can earn up to 8% APR on Near. No headaches, just passive income.
Staking
- As with most cryptocurrencies using the Proof-of-Stake consensus mechanism, users do not necessarily have to be validators themselves and operate node hardware to participate. Via delegation, users can earn staking rewards and help to secure the Near blockchain by delegating as little as 50 NEAR.
- WhaleFin handles the technicalities, and an attractive dividend is returned to the delegator in return for the contribution of their stake.
High Annualized Return: NEAR Staking offers approximately a 10% annualized return rate.
Low Barrier to Entry: WhaleFin handles all costs and responsibility of node construction and operation so that users can participate by staking as little as 50 NEAR.
Secure the Near Ecosystem: Blockchains that utilize Proof of Stake consensus mechanisms rely on token stakers for their security. Users participating in staking support and ensure that security while they earn rewards.
Please consult the WhaleFin App or web platform for the latest rates and subscription terms.
Conclusion
As the Web3 world grows and digital assets mature as an asset class, platforms that offer low transaction fees and a high throughput are likely to play an important role in adoption. Near’s versatility, interoperability, scalability, and developmental support offer a compelling proposition for builders crafting the next generation of innovative applications.
Due to the protocol’s emphasis on usability and exceptional user experience, the ecosystem continues to attract enthusiastic community members to fuel the network’s flywheel of growth and utility.
About WhaleFin by Amber Group
WhaleFin, powered by Amber Group, is an all-in-one digital asset platform designed to empower you to diversify, manage, and grow your wealth digitally in a secure manner. On WhaleFin, you can buy, sell, trade, and invest in crypto with ease.
Download the app here.
Amber Group is a leading digital asset platform operating globally with a presence in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. We provide a full range of digital asset services spanning investing, financing, trading, and spending, backed by some of the best investors across the world such as Sequoia Capital, Temasek, and Tiger Global Management.
For more on WhaleFin’s announcements and news, please follow us on social media:
For support and assistance, please contact us at service@whalefin.com
The availability of WhaleFin’s products and services is subject to jurisdictional limitations and regulatory requirements.
This material is strictly for information purposes only, and does not constitute or shall not be considered as, an offer, solicitation, or recommendation, to deal in any products. The information provided is not intended to provide a sufficient basis on which to make an investment decision. It is intended only to provide observations and views of certain personnel and has not been reviewed by any regulators elsewhere, which may be different from, or inconsistent with, the observations and views of Amber Group.
Amber Group assumes no obligation to update or otherwise revise this material, Amber Group does not represent or warrant its accuracy or completeness and is not responsible for losses or damages arising out of errors, omissions or changes or from the use of information presented in this material. Contents in any third-party sources (if any) in this material are completely beyond the control of Amber Group. As such, Amber Group shall not be held responsible for the accuracy, completeness and legality of the contents of such third-party contents. Any reference to third-party contents does not imply an endorsement, representation or warranty by Amber Group. No liability will be accepted for any loss or damage arising from or in reliance upon the contents of this material or these independent third-party contents provided here.
This material is not directed to or intended for distribution to or use by, any person or entity who is a citizen or resident of or located in any locality, state, country or other jurisdiction where such distribution, publication, availability or use would be contrary to law or regulation or which would subject Amber Group to any registration or licensing requirement within such jurisdiction.
This material does not purport to contain all of the information that an interested party may desire and, in fact, provides only a limited view. Any headings are for the convenience of reference only and shall not be deemed to modify or influence the interpretation of the information contained.
All rights reserved. This material is not to be reproduced, in whole or part, without the written consent of Amber Group.
