Watch out Vitalik, we might be $NEAR the end of $ETH dominance: An Overview of NEAR’s Ecosystem

NEAR’s adoption and growth over the past few months has been impressive

TL;DR -

Key Narratives

• User-Friendly Chain

• Proof-of-Stake capability

• Decentralized Autonomous Transactions (DAOs)

• Play-to-Earn

• Ethereum Virtual Machine compatible

• Minimal Transaction Fees

Things to consider

• This ecosystem still lacks some DeFi building blocks (e.g. lending and yield aggregator)

• Aurora will be an ETH L2 sidechain that will host dApps and act as a bridge between the networks

• Inflationary aspect

• 1Inch will release Mooniswap some time in Q4

• Somnium Space Cubes is looking to build on NEAR

• NearPad presents a great opportunity for IDOs and future DEX/yield aggregator services

• Strong DAO/Guild community that seems organic and well-funded

• News of Coinbase Ventures backing is resurfacing, and has led to a rally.

• Anticipated Coinbase listing

Backstory

NEAR was formulated in 2017 as a machine learning protocol whose main aim was to automate programs to meet specific human needs and specifications. At the end of 2017, the NEAR development team shifted its focus to blockchain and smart contracts. The members of the NEAR team were not impressed by the selection of the available coins on the market during that period.

The team brought together qualified engineers to develop a scalable blockchain that focuses on developer and user friendliness. To achieve a user-friendly experience, NEAR has incorporated features like human-readable account names as opposed to only cryptographic wallet addresses, and the ability for new users to interact with dApps and smart contracts without requiring a wallet at all.