$NEAR
The NEAR protocol has announced that its mainnet has become a non-EVM chain fully compatible with the Ethereum wallet provider MetaMask. This compatibility is achieved through NEAR Snap, which allows MetaMask users to create NEAR accounts within the MetaMask wallet, sign NEAR protocol transactions, and use other native features. NEAR Snap was developed by HERE Wallet and supported by Banyan Collective, and is part of the MetaMask Snap ecosystem aimed at extending the functionality of the MetaMask wallet.
This integration makes the NEAR protocol the first non-EVM blockchain to be fully integrated with MetaMask, enhancing the interoperability of Web3 and providing developers and users with a richer Web3 experience. Previously, Aurora, as NEAR's EVM-compatible blockchain, was already operable in MetaMask, but the launch of NEAR Snap allows for native support of NEAR transactions in MetaMask for the first time.
The launch of NEAR Snap signifies that MetaMask users can directly interact with the NEAR protocol, and the NEAR builder community plans to further develop BOS components to achieve wallet-like functionalities through different gateways, not only for NEAR Snaps but also for other wallets in the ecosystem. This will provide a simple integration method for other dApps in the NEAR ecosystem, allowing dApps to start integrating with NEAR Snaps via the NEAR wallet selector.