The Near Foundation, backing the Near Protocol’s Layer 1, has revealed its support for chain signatures, a significant development enabling users to access various chains through their Near accounts. This enhancement aims to boost interoperability and improve user experience.
This milestone, facilitating chain signatures and multichain transactions, is the outcome of a recent collaboration with EigenLayer, a restaking project operating on Ethereum. Leveraging EigenLayer’s specialized knowledge and partnership has bolstered the security and functionality of the Chain Signatures network, thereby reinforcing the Near Protocol’s ecosystem and expanding its capabilities.
Chain Signatures Transform Cross-Chain Transactions within the NEAR Protocol Ecosystem
One small step for man.
One giant leap for Chain Abstraction.
Chain Signatures, secured by EigenLayer and NEAR stakers, enable transactions on any blockchain from your NEAR account.
Start building with Chain Signatures today ⛓️https://t.co/sUPvXw75yy pic.twitter.com/3cxb6eOtYM
— NEAR Protocol (@NEARProtocol) March 27, 2024
The Near Foundation has forged an alliance with EigenLayer, introducing the groundbreaking Chain Signatures protocol. This pioneering technology enables NEAR accounts and smart contracts to authenticate transactions across various blockchains, heralding a new era of cross-chain interoperability. This development unlocks a multitude of applications for both mainstream users and Web3 developers.
Chain Signatures, facilitated by a decentralized Multi-Party Computation (MPC) network, capitalizes on NEAR staking and EigenLayer ETH restakers to ensure robust security. Presently, the protocol extends support to prominent blockchains such as Ethereum, Cosmos chains, DogeCoin, and XRP Ledger, with imminent plans for integration with Solana, TON Network, Polkadot, and more.
A significant aspect of Chain Signatures lies in its introduction of threshold signatures for any blockchain, managed by NEAR accounts and smart contracts. This mechanism empowers NEAR accounts, which can also function as smart contracts, to solicit signatures for diverse payloads, including transactions for other blockchains. Through this decentralized MPC network, users retain complete control over transactions while streamlining the intricacies associated with managing multiple addresses.
Complementing Chain Signatures, Near introduces the “Multichain Gas Relayer” to its ecosystem, obviating the necessity for native gas tokens on alternative chains during transactions. This innovation facilitates the utilization of NEAR (NEP-141) tokens to cover gas fees across any chain, amplifying convenience and accessibility within the multichain landscape.
These advancements are in alignment with NEAR’s ongoing “chain abstraction” initiative, which endeavors to enhance the user experience within the crypto realm by mitigating the complexities inherent in multichain operations.
With the integration of Chain Signatures and the Multichain Gas Relayer, users can seamlessly conduct transactions across both smart contract and non-smart contract chains using a unified account or interface.
Despite its strong performance, the Near Foundation has opted to reduce its workforce by 40%.
Near Protocol witnessed an extraordinary surge of 1,902% in the number of unique active wallets engaging with its Web3 application, a revelation brought forth by DappRadar on January 11. This remarkable surge stands as a testament to the escalating user activity within the Near ecosystem, signifying a notable uptick in engagement and utilization.
In light of this impressive performance and bolstered financials, the Near Foundation has made an unexpected decision to reduce its workforce by a significant margin of 40%. This announcement comes as somewhat of a surprise, especially amidst the backdrop of Near ecosystem’s recent commendable performance over the course of the year.
Despite this workforce reduction, Near Protocol remains a formidable presence within the Web3 domain, with three of its applications securing positions among the top ten in Web3 rankings. Moreover, the ecosystem proudly boasts a record-breaking number of daily users, indicating a sustained trajectory of growth and adoption of Near’s cutting-edge technology and applications.
