Emma Edison

Is NEAR a Sleeping Giant? A Comparative Analysis with Solana

The world of blockchain technology is constantly evolving, with various platforms vying for dominance in terms of scalability, security, and usability. Among the most prominent contenders are Solana and NEAR Protocol. Both platforms have unique attributes and a growing ecosystem, making them strong candidates for future growth. But which one holds the greatest potential? Let’s delve into the strengths, weaknesses, and future prospects of both to assess their potential.
1. Overview of Solana
Solana is a high-performance blockchain platform designed for decentralized applications (dApps) and crypto-currencies. It is known for its ability to process a large number of transactions per second (TPS) at a low cost, which has made it a favorite among developers and users alike. Solana’s core innovation is its Proof of History (PoH) consensus algorithm, which allows for faster transaction times by creating a historical record that proves that an event has occurred at a specific moment in time.
Key Features:
High Throughput: Solana can handle over 65,000 TPS, making it one of the fastest blockchains in the world.Low Fees: The cost of transactions on Solana is extremely low, often fractions of a cent.Strong Ecosystem: Solana has attracted a wide array of projects in DeFi, NFTs, and Web3, growing its ecosystem rapidly.
2. Overview of NEAR Protocol
NEAR Protocol is a layer-1 blockchain designed to be developer-friendly and to provide scalability without sacrificing decentralization. NEAR uses a unique sharding technology called "Nightshade," which allows the network to scale linearly with the number of shards, significantly improving its TPS as the network grows. NEAR also uses a Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism, which is energy-efficient and supports greater decentralization.
Key Features:
Sharding with Nightshade: NEAR’s innovative sharding mechanism allows it to scale efficiently and handle a large number of transactions.User-Friendly: NEAR focuses on usability, providing easy onboarding for developers and users, with features like human-readable addresses.Growing Ecosystem: NEAR has seen significant growth in its developer community and the number of dApps being built on its platform.
3. Comparative Analysis
Scalability:
Solana: Solana’s architecture allows for massive scalability with its high TPS, making it suitable for applications that require fast processing times, such as trading platforms and gaming.NEAR: NEAR’s sharding approach offers scalable solutions as the network grows, potentially offering more sustainable scalability in the long run.
Decentralization:
Solana: Critics argue that Solana’s network is less decentralized than other platforms, with a relatively small number of validators.NEAR: NEAR’s PoS and sharding technology are designed to enhance decentralization, with more validators able to participate as the network expands.
Ecosystem Growth:
Solana: Solana has seen rapid adoption in the DeFi and NFT space, with major projects choosing its platform for its speed and cost-efficiency.NEAR: NEAR’s ecosystem is growing steadily, with a focus on attracting developers through grants and easy-to-use tools, though it is not yet as large as Solana's.
Security:
Solana: The rapid growth of Solana has led to some security challenges, including network outages. However, the platform is continuously working on improvements.NEAR: NEAR’s emphasis on decentralization and sharding helps to maintain security, but as with all blockchains, it is still subject to potential risks.
4. Future Potential
Solana: Solana’s future potential lies in its ability to continue scaling and maintaining low transaction costs. If it can address its decentralization and security concerns, it may continue to dominate in areas where high throughput is essential.
NEAR: NEAR’s future potential is strongly tied to its ability to attract developers and build a robust ecosystem. Its focus on user and developer experience, coupled with its scalable architecture, makes it a strong contender for long-term growth, especially as the blockchain space evolves.

NEAR Protocol, a Layer-1 blockchain platform, one of the most prominent in the market, is going to integrate artificial intelligence (AI) into its ecosystem, which is a big step towards user-owned development of AI. The technology roadmap of NEAR for the next 3 months to 6 months includes hiring the most competent AI engineers who will help the blockchain space to leverage the powerful potential of AI.

NEAR Protocol is Committed to Hiring AI Engineers

The latest information shared during the virtual town hall meeting, which was headed by the NEAR co-founder Illia Polosukhin and core team members, has provided the outlook that the company will be recruiting AI talent in the upcoming future. The presentation showed NEAR Protocol commitment to mapping artificial intelligence workstreams throughout the timeframe in a deliberate approach to integrating AI functionalities into its product.

NEAR CEO Illia Polosukhin. source: outlieracademy

The AI technology choice is consistent with the ongoing conversation on the artificial intelligence and Blockchain technologies’ interplay. NEAR’s goal of becoming a pioneer at the crossing point of these three fields is its way of showing that it is committed to achieving innovation and exploring novel solutions. Overall, Polosukhin’s presence at Nvidia’s “Transforming AI” conference is a testament to NEAR’s active involvement in the AI space, not only in terms of discussions but also in the formation of significant partnerships.

AI-Powered Innovation

Polosukhin’s involvement in NEAR Protocol becoming a smart AI-based ecosystem is further strengthened by the fact that he is an AI researcher and software engineer who was credited for co-creating the Transformer architecture which is considered a revolution in the field. Though this artificial intelligence technology is the one that powers advanced generative AI models such as ChatGPT, it is still a strong example of AI techs on NEAR Protocol.

To support the AI initiatives, NEAR Protocol will use near.ai, a platform that will be launched soon to facilitate the search of AI-related data and to make user interfaces more convenient. This strategic move is the evidence of NEAR in its desire to democratize the artificial intelligence tools and knowledge, which will assist in promoting accessibility and innovation across the NEAR ecosystem.

Unlike many other AIs, NEAR is a not-for-profit and decentralized organization, which places it in an advantageous position to be on the forefront of open-source AI projects. On the contrary, NEAR token economy is a different concept as compared to the traditional for-profit models that are driven by revenue incentives only. Instead, it is the token economy of a community that is open and permissionless, which is in line with the ethos of the NEAR community-driven innovation and inclusivity.

At The End

Furthermore, NEAR’s recent focus on ‘chain abstraction’ demonstrates its wider aspiration of delivering smooth and seamless experiences to the users in the cryptosphere. Through tackling the intricacies that come with a multichained system, NEAR intends to boost the usability and accessibility of users and developers alike. The adoption of artificial intelligence functionalities will be the crucial part of that story, as it will bring efficiencies to the development pipeline and the end-user experience on the NEAR platform.

In short, NEAR hiring of AI engineers and the incorporation of AI capabilities reflect its reactive stance to innovation and place NEAR at the leading edge of the growing field of blockchain and AI. NEAR aims at building these initiatives that will unbox new chances, increase user participation, and help the industry move to a more distinguished and advanced future.

The post NEAR Protocol to Hire Artificial-Intelligence Engineers as Part of AI Roadmap first appeared on The VR Soldier.

EigenLabs, one of the leaders in tailoring scaling solutions on Ethereum, is teaming up with the NEAR Foundation to establish an industry-first collaboration aimed at promoting quicker, more economical transactions for Layer 2 projects constructed on Ethereum. Ethereum rollups, initiatives that execute transactions outside of the main Ethereum blockchain, have been one of the speediest growing sectors on the world’s largest blockchain. Nevertheless, they have consistently encountered challenges around finality and cost, rendering them a costly option for developers seeking to construct on Ethereum. Those impediments vanish with the collaboration with the NEAR Blockchain and NEAR Foundation.

 

Layer-2 Blockchains: “Swift Finality Layer”

The collaboration, which will have the two teams construct the world’s initial “swift finality layer” for Ethereum layer 2s, will observe transaction times diminish from minutes and hours to 3-4 seconds. The expense of transacting on this new finality layer will become 4,000 times more economical than it is currently, forming the perfect conditions for teams looking to scale on Ethereum.

This advancement will reduce liquidity fragmentation between Layer-2s through heightened efficiency while also enabling them to make individual decisions around the sequencers they utilize to process those transactions, either on-chain or off-chain. The swift finality layer maintains all ETH security guarantees while adding both NEAR and EigenLayer guarantees, making it an appealing option for any team constructing on Ethereum L2s.

“We are excited to partner with the highly innovative team behind the NEAR protocol,” says Sreeram Kannan, founder of EigenLabs. “This is a mutually beneficial partnership that will leverage both NEAR and EigenLayer’s technologies to make it simpler, quicker, and cheaper for developers to construct on Ethereum.”

 

Increase Open Web Usability

The collaboration, led by Pagoda, the NEAR ecosystem development team, will aid in transitioning the NEAR-Ethereum Rainbow Bridge to an actively validated service (AVS). “Pagoda is proud to collaborate with Eigen Labs, a world-class team, to build the swift finality layer. This solution enhances composability with Ethereum L2s and decreases liquidity fragmentation within the rollup ecosystem,” says Bowen Wang, Director of Protocol at Pagoda.

The partnership will not only assist projects constructing on ETH but NEAR as well, in creating a better bridging experience between NEAR and ETH, enabling transactions to achieve finality faster, with stronger security guarantees and decentralization. “NEAR Foundation is proud to partner with such an excellent team as Eigen Labs to offer a swift finality layer for ETH rollups,” says Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of NEAR Protocol. “The swift 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 ETH rollups and make all of Web3 more interoperable as a result.”

 

About NEAR Foundation 

The NEAR Foundation’s mission is to aid in ushering in the dawn of the open web, a radically new form of Web3 where infrastructure, application protocols, and access are open to anyone, anywhere. Facilitating the development of ETH by creating a pathway to swift, low-cost, and scalable infrastructure is one the many ways NEAR is aiding in bringing about this radical shift in how the internet operates.

The post NEAR Foundation and Eigen Labs Transform DeFi first appeared on The VR Soldier.