Tag: near protocol

Near Protocol Crops Work Force Marking 2024’s First Layoff in Web3: Details

The first two weeks of 2024 saw major upheaval with the excitement around the approval of BTC ETFs in the US. The market volatility seems to be cooling off now that the ETFs have been approved – but regardless, a fresh setback has hit the crypto sector. The Near Foundation has decided to lay off 40 percent of its work force as part of an internal restructuring. A non-profit organisation based in Zug, Switzerland, the Near Foundation manages open-source Web3 projects based on the NEAR Protocol blockchain.

In an announcement made on January 11, Near Protocol said it was letting go of 35 employees from its marketing, business development, and community teams.

Explaining its decision, the foundation said, “with the NEAR Foundation Council (NFC), we’ve conducted a thorough review of the Foundation’s activities. During this process, we heard feedback that the Foundation has not always been as effective as it could be, sometimes moving too slowly and trying to do too many things at once.”

It is noteworthy that Near Protocol has not reported any losses in 2023. On the contrary, the Near Protocol, as per a DapperLabs report, emerged third on a list of top ten blockchains by Unique Active Wallets (UAWs) in 2023. The UAW is a term of measurement in the Web3 that represents the number of crypto wallets that were linked with dApps or saw transactions of digital assets over a period of time.

As per the foundation, its treasury remains strong with over $285 million (roughly Rs. 2,362 crore) in fiat, 305 million NEAR tokens worth over $1 billion (roughly Rs. 8,291 crore), along with $70 million (roughly Rs. 580 crore) allocated to investments and loans.

The foundation, with this round of layoffs, has decided to significantly consolidate its core team to focus on a narrower and higher-impact set of activities.

“The Near Foundation will provide support to affected colleagues during this time to help them find new opportunities in the NEAR ecosystem, the Web3 industry, and beyond,” the foundation has vouched.

Meanwhile, the Near Protocol has managed to rope-in a bunch of promising projects under its belt in 2023. In November, South Korean metaverse platform Zep announced a new partnership with Near Protocol, ushing which it aims to create online games in the metaverse ecosystem and onboard more users onto its platform.

Aiming to foster the growth of Web3 in Asia, the Near Foundation also entered a partnership with China’s Alibaba Group in June 2023.

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Growing Metaverse Platform Zep Chooses Near Protocol to Create Games, Boost Userbase

South Korean metaverse platform Zep announced a new partnership with Near Protocol. Using the Layer-1 blockchain platform Near Protocol, Zep aims to create online games in the metaverse ecosystem and onboard more users onto its platform. Zep is a joint venture between online game developer Supercat and creator platform Zepeto. It claims to have 1.3 million monthly active users and 8.3 million total users that joined its platform this year. In the coming months, Zep plans to expand internationally to the Japanese and Southeast Asian markets.

In a bid to help Zep create a diverse range of online games in the metaverse, Near Protocol’s offerings like large scale user-oriented services, user-friendly interface, and Web2-like stability will come in handy. It is because of these offerings, that Near-based Web3 apps have managed to rank 1st and 2nd among all blockchain applications as per DappRadar.

As part of their partnership, Near Protocol and Zep are looking to develop Web3 features that would not only make the metaverse experience more immersive for end users, but also assist developers in regard to the convenience of creating.

“Through collaboration with dApps in the content and gaming fields based on NEAR, we will assist ZEP’s business expansion in the Web3 domain,” Mark Mi, Gaming Director of NEAR Protocol said in an official statement. “

South Korea has been evidently supportive in terms of exploring the metaverse industry. Last year, South Korean lawmakers had spoken about plans of investing over $177 million (roughly Rs. 1,370 crore) in supporting metaverse projects that will also trigger job opportunities in the sector.

In February 2022, Seoul’s Ministry of Science, ICT, and Future Planning of South Korea allocated KRW 223.7 billion (roughly Rs. 1,400 crore) towards the development of a national metaverse project.

In December 2022, Shinhan Bank, named among the top four lenders in South Korea, launched a metaverse site named ‘Cinnamon’, where people get to access an array of services from financial, as well as non-financial sectors.

This support for metaverse from South Korean industry mammoths coupled with a nudge from the government and a big online gamer base, Near Protocol can also attempt at reaping big benefits from expanding its platform’s presence there.

“Based on this collaboration, ZEP’s partners are expected to easily issue and distribute various Web3-based digital assets, allowing users to enjoy a convenient Web3 experience in the ZEP metaverse environment,” the official press release from Near Protocol said.

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Alibaba Cloud, Near Foundation Agree to Collaborate on Asia’s Web3 Growth: Details

Web3 adoption, around the world, seems to be heating up with plenty happening around crypto rules and CBDC introductions in existing economies. Aiming to foster the growth of Web3 in Asia, the Near Foundation has entered a partnership with China’s Alibaba Group. Essentially, the Near Foundation is looking to use Alibaba’s Cloud solutions to help developers build on its blockchain infrastructure. The development comes at a time when more Web3 players are shifting their attention to the densely populated and tech savvy Asian continent.

Based in Zug, Switzerland, the Near Foundation is a non-profit organisation that oversees the funding, ecosystem development, as well as core governance of the Near blockchain. The Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain is energy efficient and eco-friendly.

The Near Foundation is aiming to encourage more Web3 developers to use its blockchain to support their solutions and products. Its partnership with Alibaba Cloud aims to encourage developers from anti-crypto China to also hop onboard the Web3 wagon.

As part of their partnership, the Near Foundation and Alibaba Cloud will offer remote procedure calls (RPC) as a service to developers on the Near ecosystem. The RPC, which is a type of a computer server, lets users read blockchain data amongst other features, a Coindesk report said on Monday, June 26.

In addition, the infrastructure provided by Alibaba Cloud will enable Web3 developers to use Near’s Blockchain Operating System (BOS) to build on and connect with others using the ecosystem.

For Alibaba, this makes for an important deal signed under its executive vice chairman, Joseph Tsai. A vocal blockchain enthusiast, Tsai himself is reportedly a Web3 investor who has been analysing favourable deals with crypto-related organisations to bring into Alibaba’s partnerships portfolio.

For now, all crypto-related activities are banned in China. Hence it looks like blockchain solutions apart from the ones that simplify engagement with crypto, could brew strong among Chinese developers.

As far as Near is concerned, this is not its first foray into the Asian market.

In February this year it joined forces with Indian multi-media company Shemaroo Entertainment to bring immutability, transparency, as well as decentralisation to India’s entertainment and media sphere via blockchain.

Blockchains that aim to onboard gaming companies are also shifting their focus to Asia from the western markets.

Asia’s gaming community generates the maximum chunk of revenue in the industry. In its latest research report, DappRadar said the Asian nations of India, China, Japan, and South Korea collectively have over 1.7 billion video game players, and this big number has attracted players in the Web3 gaming space to shift their focus to the Asian market on priority.

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After Kenya, Near Foundation to Launch Web3 Hub in India

Near Foundation is looking to play its part in uplifting the promising Web3 projects in India. The Switzerland-based non-profit organisation that governs the Near Protocol announced the launch of a regional hub in India, dedicated to find and support talent in blockchain technology, which makes for the backbone of the Web3 sector. With this, the Near Foundation has recognised India as the country with the largest startup and entrepreneur communities in the world that also houses some of the “most talented developers and Web3 creators.”

The India hub of the Near Foundation will identify and support entrepreneurs who plan to solve specific public problems via Web3 elements like the metaverse, NFTs, and cryptocurrencies.

GameFi and DeFi are the two focus areas for the hub in India.

Play-to-earn in nature, ‘gameFi’ refers to the financialisation of video gaming — that, as a sector, reportedly touched the market cap of $55.38 billion (roughly Rs. 4,38,500 crore) as of February 2022

Meanwhile DeFi, or decentralised finance is in itself emerging as a sector of fintech that is reliant on virtual assets like cryptocurrencies and does not rely on central banks and centralised intermediaries. As per CoinMarketCap, the DeFi crypto’s market cap currently stands at $45.83 billion (roughly Rs. 3,63,000 crore).

In the first year, the Near India hub aims to onboard 15 to 20 high-quality projects to its ecosystem.

“We are extremely excited to be supporting the rich and exciting developments taking shape in India — and with our new hub, there will be an incredible opportunity for developers and creators to come together to learn, educate and further their talent and build on our blockchain. This hub gives us the chance to nurture the local talent that will have global opportunities in the near future – and we look forward to seeing the amazing applications and initiatives that will come out of this ecosystem,” said Marieke Flament, CEO of the Near Foundation.

Aayush Gupta and Yash Kanchan, the former leads on India strategy for Terraform Labs, have been tasked with the responsibility for leading the Near India hub in Bengaluru city.

India is currently awaiting elaborate crypto rules to safeguard the sector against loopholes and scams. While the trading, exchange, and holding of virtual assets are taxed and allowed activities in the country, India still has not clarified future use cases of these digital assets that could be permitted.

Just earlier this month, the Near foundation launched a regional hub in Kenya to accelerate Web3 projects across the continent. The platform is looking to nurture and educate talented individuals in the country.

In fact, this week itself, the platform partnered with Caerus Ventures to launch a fund of $100 million (roughly Rs. 700 crore) in order to support promising projects in the Web3 space.

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