The NEAR Ecosystem Set to Take Off in 2023

Translated by Lyne Choi

 

Table of Contents

1. NEAR Protocol Aims to Achieve Widespread Adoption of Blockchain Technology

2. Outstanding UX with a Web2-like Account Model 

2-1. Challenge: Wallet as a Barrier to Blockchain Adoption

2-2. Ethereum: Implementing Account Abstraction via Mempool without Modifying the Consensus Layer

2-3. NEAR: Implementing AA from Protocol Design to Deliver an Exceptional UX

3. Enhancing the Development Process with BOS and Aurora

3-1. Challenge: Lack of Web3-specific Development Tools

3-2. BOS: A Blockchain Front-End Dev OS that Significantly Reduces Development Time

3-3. Gas Fee Reduction with Aurora SDK Corss-Contract Call

4. NEAR’s Potential Demonstrated by Sweatcoin

5. Why NEAR is the BOS?

 

 

1. NEAR Protocol Aims to Achieve Widespread Adoption of Blockchain Technology

NEAR is a layer 1 project designed with the goal of achieving widespread adoption of blockchain, prioritizing end-user and developer usability. At the forefront of NEAR's achievements is Sweatcoin, a killer dApp that offers a range of tools for users and developers. Alongside the launch of EVM Aurora in 2021, the NEAR ecosystem experienced rapid growth in tandem with Sweatcoin, although it has faced a slowdown due to the recent market downturn, similar to many other projects.

Despite the challenges, NEAR's ecosystem shows promise for a resurgence with NEAR's Account Model, recently released developer tools, and the continued success of Sweatcoin. NEAR's user-friendly account model simplifies blockchain usage for non-technical users, while the introduction of BOS and Aurora SDK enhances the Web 3 development experience. In this article, we will delve into NEAR's efforts to improve the user experience for both end-users and developers and highlight its key strengths. 

 

2. Outstanding UX with a Web2-like Account Model

2-1. Challenge: Wallet as a Barrier to Blockchain Adoption

Wallets pose a significant barrier to the widespread adoption of blockchain technology. Currently, users are required to create and manage seed phrases in order to use cryptocurrency wallets like Metamask, which is considerably less user-friendly compared to Web 2 accounts.

The challenges associated with wallets have persisted for a considerable period, prompting the exploration of practical solutions aimed at enhancing the widespread adoption and accessibility of crypto wallets.

2-2. Ethereum: Implementing Account Abstraction via Mempool without Modifying the Consensus Layer 

To address this challenge, Ethereum has taken early measures and introduced ERC-4337, a technology that enables the implementation of Account Abstraction (AA). The purpose of AA is to tackle wallet-related issues within the Ethereum ecosystem. Through ERC-4337, AA is implemented using a "User Operation Mempool," which functions similarly to a regular transaction mempool, without requiring any modifications at the consensus layer.

While wallet services that adopt AA are expected to significantly alleviate the inconveniences associated with existing wallet services, such as 1) social media log-in, 2) password recovery and modification, 3) multi-signature, and 4) gas fee payment, their widespread usage is hindered by the lack of support from major wallets like MetaMask, which do not currently support ERC-4337. Furthermore, since ERC-4337 does not introduce changes at the consensus layer, Ethereum dApps need to make significant modifications to their existing codebase in order to support ERC-4337.

2-3. NEAR: Implementing AA from Protocol Design to Deliver an Exceptional UX

NEAR prioritized user experience in its protocol design. Unlike accounts on other blockchains, NEAR accounts are tailored to be highly familiar to Web 2 users. One notable feature of NEAR accounts is their ability to be divided into multiple keys with different permissions. Among these, Function Call Keys enable applications to invoke specific methods on behalf of users, eliminating the need for users to repeatedly sign for the same actions. Moreover, NEAR has integrated AA at the protocol development stage, simplifying the process for developers to incorporate user-friendly features such as gas payment.

Human Readable IDs

NEAR accounts work differently from accounts in most other blockchains as it uses readable account IDs instead of a public key hash. A NEAR account must be between 2 and 64 characters long and always consists of account ID parts made of lowercase alphanumeric symbols separated by a dot. For example, “test.near” is the public identifier of an account deployed on NEAR.

Streamlining Tasks with a Function Call Key

In Ethereum, the wallet is typically accessed through a single key, the private key, which grants full control over the account. In contrast, NEAR offers the flexibility to divide the key into multiple keys with different permissions.

Among these, the Function Call Key stands out as a key that provides limited permissions and can be passed to an app, enabling the app to execute contract functions on behalf of the account. This functionality empowers developers to automate repetitive tasks, such as signing specific transactions, without requiring constant user authorization. For instance, users can seamlessly sign game-related transactions while enjoying uninterrupted gameplay, enhancing the convenience of gaming experiences. Additionally, Function Call Keys serve as a protective measure against malicious dApps. Users can interact with the app using the key, and even if it gets compromised, the hacker's ability to delete the account or transfer NEAR tokens is limited due to the restricted functionality of the Function Call Key.

For added security, users have the option to remove or replace a key if they suspect a compromise, following a similar process to changing passwords on other websites.

Introducing FastAuth to Simplify Sign-in Process for Web2 Users with Email Authentication

To enhance user experience, NEAR has introduced FastAuth, a feature that allows Web 2 users to access the platform using familiar methods, thus reducing the entry barrier. FastAuth enables users to sign in using either their wallet address or a non-private email, providing a seamless signing-in experience.

In addition, NEAR has implemented decentralized email recovery, eliminating the need for users to remember complex seed phrases or passwords. This feature eliminates the requirement of downloading additional software or applications to sign in, as the process conveniently takes place directly within the browser on desktop or mobile devices.

Simplifying Gas Fee Payment and Building Convenient Features for DApp Developers

NEAR is actively advancing protocol-level technologies to enhance the usability of blockchain services for users who are unfamiliar with blockchain, enabling them to access services such as gas payment and zero balance account creation without the need to set up a wallet or purchase cryptocurrency.

• Meta transactions: This feature allows third parties to cover the transaction fees on behalf of users, enabling dApp users to interact with NEAR apps even without owning NEAR tokens.
• Zero balance account: Initially, creating a NEAR account necessitated users to hold a minimum balance due to storage staking. However, to simplify the onboarding process for new users, NEAR now allows the creation of zero-balance accounts.

Users may no longer be required to create a NEAR account to access the app, whereas decentralized exchanges like Uniswap typically mandate the use of crypto wallets such as MetaMask. These developments are expected to significantly enhance the user experience for NEAR-based apps.

 

3. Enhancing the Development Process with BOS and Aurora

3-1. Challenge: Lack of Web3-specific Development Tools

Web 3 front-end development shares many similarities with Web 2. Developers who are proficient in building UIs with React can apply their skills to both Web 2 and Web 3 applications.

The main distinction lies in the fact that Web 3 applications interface with the blockchain instead of a traditional server. As a result, developers must be familiar with the appropriate libraries and functions required for tasks such as wallet connections and blockchain interactions.

However, compared to Web 2 libraries, Web 3 libraries related to blockchain and connectivity often suffer from shorter documentation and fewer example codes. The abstraction level of Web 3 development tools is still evolving, and the available toolset is not yet comprehensive enough, resulting in inconvenience during application development.

3-2. BOS: A Blockchain Front-End Dev OS that Significantly Reduces Development Time

NEAR's Blockchain Operating System (BOS) is a solution to this problem. NEAR basically supports JavaScript, which is the most popular language used by developers and has a lot of code abstraction based on it, making it easy for developers to use. Furthermore, while traditional development often requires setting up a complex development environment, BOS simplifies the process by offering user-friendly CLI tools and online IDEs. This streamlined approach provides developers with excellent convenience and enhances their overall development experience. Furthermore, importing widgets created by other developers using BOS components is straightforward, and since BOS also provides components from existing Web2, developers can easily perform front-end development using them.

BOS also offers seamless access to various gateways, whether they are blockchain-based, or Web 2-based. This allows users to utilize multiple dApps as if they were using a single app. With the FastAuth feature mentioned earlier, users can sign in using a Web 2-style authentication and access multiple apps without requiring additional sign-in actions.

With BOS, developers have the capability to build front-ends for NEAR, Ethereum, and Layer 2-based dApps. For instance, users can utilize BOS to swap tokens on Uniswap, an Ethereum-based platform, while simultaneously engaging with a NEAR-based chat dApp that shares the same identity.

While front-end developers have the option to develop functionalities like Metamask connection code and reading blockchain node balance values using React from the ground up, using BOS provides a significant advantage by reducing the development time required by up to tenfold.

3-3. Gas Fee Reduction with Aurora SDK Corss-Contract Call

NEAR provides tools for developers not only on the front end but also on the smart contract end. The Aurora SDK's Cross-Contract Call is a feature that allows Aurora's Ethereum-compatible smart contracts to seamlessly interact with NEAR's WASM smart contracts. Developers can use it to 1) query information from another smart contract or 2) execute a specific method on another smart contract. This feature makes applying for asset transfers, smart contract communication, and more between accounts on the Aurora and NEAR blockchains easy.

Using Aurora's Cross-Contract Call (XCC), developers can perform heavy computation in a NEAR WASM contract and receive the resulting value as a callback to process in an Aurora contract. This is because WASM can process transactions faster and more gas-efficiently than EVM when the same smart contract is processed by both WASM and EVM.

 

4. NEAR’s Potential Demonstrated by Sweatcoin

The launch of the Sweatcoin dApp in 2022 led to substantial growth within the NEAR ecosystem. There were two notable spikes in the number of new NEAR wallets during that year, with the second surge occurring in September 2022 when the Sweatcoin app was introduced. This pivotal event propelled the total number of NEAR wallets from 2 million at the start of 2022 to an impressive 20 million by November 2022. Additionally, this surge in wallet adoption was accompanied by a significant increase in transaction volume, underscoring the positive impact of the Sweatcoin app on NEAR's growth trajectory.

According to Anton Derlyata, co-founder of Sweatcoin, NEAR stood out for its speed and security. With a substantial user base, Sweatcoin prioritized a platform that could process a large number of transactions quickly and seamlessly. NEAR has maintained a flawless record with no mainnet outages since its launch and is actively enhancing scalability through the introduction of Phase 1 of its Nightshade sharding technology. By 2024, NEAR plans to implement Phase 2 of Nightshade sharding, where all shards will be without validators and dynamically adjusted based on network utilization, further boosting scalability. Moreover, NEAR's usability played a significant role in Sweatcoin's decision. NEAR's user-friendly environment bridges the gap between Web 2 and Web 3 applications, making them accessible in a familiar setting. This appeal is further demonstrated by other gaming projects that have chosen NEAR. In fact, NEAR's ecosystem is expanding into the gaming and NFT sectors, with notable projects like the P2E mobile strategy game Play Ember and the NFT marketplace Few and Far.

On the other hand, it is important to note that the NEAR DeFi ecosystem, which experienced rapid growth with the launch of EVM Aurora, has faced challenges during the market downturn and continues to navigate a period of decline in TVL.

 

5. Why NEAR is the BOS?

In this article, we explored the recent development tools released by NEAR and their role in expanding the ecosystem. To realize its goal of onboarding 1 billion users, NEAR is dedicated to building a user-friendly protocol that caters to both developers and users. By adopting an account model familiar to Web 2 users and incorporating AA from the protocol's initial design phase, NEAR simplifies the creation of user-friendly features like gas fee payment. In March, NEAR introduced its own blockchain-based operating system called BOS to enhance the front-end development experience. Furthermore, in April, NEAR launched XCC, enabling seamless smart contract communication between Aurora and NEAR. These features empower developers to build dApps with greater ease and speed.

The decision of applications like Sweatcoin to choose NEAR can be attributed to NEAR's exceptional UI/UX, which is likely to appeal to Web 2 companies seeking to transition to Web 3. As the infrastructure, including wallets, represents a significant hurdle in the shift from Web 2 to Web 3, NEAR addresses this challenge by offering a compelling user experience. The popularity of a blockchain platform relies on its adoption by a large user base and NEAR's focus on UI/UX positions it as an ideal choice for Web 2 companies venturing into the Web 3 landscape.

With a focus on providing a developer and user-friendly experience, NEAR is poised to witness a rapid expansion of its ecosystem in 2023, bringing the NEAR Foundation's ambitious goal of onboarding 1 billion users one step closer. Building upon the efforts made in 2022 to onboard developers, this year will witness the introduction of comprehensive developer tools and the development of practical, real-world use cases that showcase the full potential of the NEAR platform.