How NEAR is Building a Community Centered Ecosystem and Investing in New Technologies
One of the core focuses of the NEAR Foundation has always been to create something that transcends mere business interests, delivering community-driven projects that thrive through the contributions and ideas of people.
For a project to succeed, it's essential for those working on a protocol to collaborate harmoniously and assist newcomers. This level of collaboration is only possible with a strong community.
A common experience among those developing NEAR products is receiving a warm welcome from experienced blockchain users and the necessary support to start off on the right foot. "The people working on NEAR projects are definitely eager to help, especially newcomers," says a community member.
Community engagement is also prevalent in Web2, where people interact on platforms like Reddit, and contributors can add content to popular websites like Youtube or Wikipedia.
However, Web3 projects take this a step further by removing barriers and bringing users closer to the tools they use. In Web3, people have more control and influence over how a project is built. There is no centralized authority, and members can be rewarded for their contributions.
NEAR wanted to focus on this aspect. And they delivers.
NEAR: Developed For People
One of the first examples was NEAR’s web wallet. According to users, it's much simpler to get started with compared to other popular Web3 wallets like MetaMask. Users receive a human-readable name that must be entered correctly to send funds, ensuring no money is lost on the NEAR blockchain. This feature is highly appreciated by newcomers to Web3.
Another clear example is their built-in Telegram application, "Hot Wallet," which we discussed in detail in our previous article. This app takes the concept of a wallet to the next level, allowing users to engage with the NEAR ecosystem directly from a smartphone application.
The same Goes for their idea of an Abstract Blockchain and their Cross-chain Signature, n the Web3 domain, fragmented addresses create significant challenges, impeding seamless interoperability between different networks.
That’s where the Near Foundation came in and decided to develop their concept of “Chain Abstraction”. The capability of a chain of being agnostic in its functioning, while maintaining a proprietary architecture.
But one of the most interesting functions is the upcoming and highly anticipated “NEAR User-Owned AI… Let’s take a deeper look at it.
User-Owned AI is NEAR
Source Image: NEAR Foundation
AI is set to revolutionize our interactions with computing and our coordination methods. NEAR has established itself as a leading consumer blockchain for mainstream applications, handling millions of transactions daily. Now, the ecosystem is advancing to the next phase of NEAR’s development: transforming NEAR into the hub for User-Owned AI.
The NEAR ecosystem will maintain its emphasis on usability and mainstream applications, with significant scalability improvements like sharding on the horizon. However, AI is emerging as the most transformative technology of the next decade, with most advancements occurring within centralized, closed for-profit companies. We envision a future where intelligence, the most powerful human resource, is not controlled by a few mega-corporations. Our goal for NEAR is to empower users by placing the power of AI directly in their hands.
“AI is still fundamentally a research problem.” This is what ILLIA POLOSUKHIN, Near Co-Founder says.
This is why the Foundation recently launched the NEAR.AI R&D Lab, headed by Alex Skidanov and Illia Polosukhin. Their initial goal is to develop an “AI Developer” to address the core challenge of building end-to-end Web3 applications from user intents. Following this, NEAR will recruit a team of AI researchers and invest in the advanced research necessary to realize this vision.
The NEAR ecosystem is uniquely positioned to achieve this vision at scale by combining a user base in the tens of millions, a thriving Web3 developer community that includes an increasing number of AI projects, and significant financial resources managed by a not-for-profit Swiss Foundation.
Colossus has had the honor of building with the NEAR Foundation for nearly a year, transforming the institutional landscape by promoting and adopting new technologies.
We fully support the integration of the NEAR token within our "Institutional Hub" and are delighted to enable institutional clients to unlock the potential of their assets under custody, allowing them to earn yields on their safeguarded NEAR tokens.