Near Protocol (NEAR): A Sleeping Giant?

Near Protocol is a smart contract layer-1 network, born in April 2020. Its founders are impressive, hailing from the likes of Google and Microsoft, its technological underpinnings are compelling, and its ICO was so popular that it crashed the CoinList website in August 2020.

Since then, it has developed a track record of raising 9-figure founding rounds, including some $350 million led by Tiger Global in April of last year, and its native token, NEAR, climbed to ATH market capitalization of $12.4 billion in early 2022.

Fast forward to present day, and NEAR’s value sits at just below the $1 billion mark, currently 42nd on CoinMarketCap, and its name appears increasingly little in blockchain media headlines.

That said, a closer examination of the current state of the ecosystem may suggest growth has continued for Near, with especially noteworthy increases coming in recent weeks…

A Look at Near’s Metrics

With the help of blockchain analytics platform, Artemis, we can clearly see growth across both the number of daily active addresses, as well as transaction count. 

Until September 2023, the number of daily individual addresses interacting with the network grew steadily from around 30-40,000 addresses in May, to less volatile activity within the 50-70,000 address range. 

However, as September began, the number shot up to nearly 1 million addresses on September 5. Since then, said usership has contracted somewhat to seemingly settle at around 700,000 addresses.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the number of Near Protocol transactions has experienced a similar pattern, jumping from around 400-500,000 txns to as many as 3.17 million on September 5.

The driving factors behind this sudden and shocking growth are yet to be definitely identified. However, such a seemingly incredible rise, and at a time when the surrounding market appeared to be weathering some of the harshest conditions it has experienced, is impressive and noteworthy in and of itself.

DeFi on Near Protocol

Less encouraging are figures surrounding the protocol’s total value locked (TVL).

At time of writing, Near’s TVL sits at around $34 million, having fallen approximately $440 million since its all-time highs in May of last year.

Near’s current figure places it below even the likes of Sui and Aptos, at $50 million and $44 million respectively - both of which launched more than two years after Near, and in far harsher market conditions.  

Within the Near Protocol DeFi ecosystem itself, nearly half of its TVL is delivered by LiNEAR Protocol - a protocol providing liquid staking solutions to the NEAR ecosystem, in tandem with its proof-of-stake consensus mechanism. 

A Comparative Look

It is no secret that, since mid-2022, the vast majority of cryptocurrency projects have been hit in some way or another. That said, Near Protocol itself appears to have well outperformed other ‘scalable L1’ competitors.

Following its September spike, Near’s daily active addresses more than double those of other layer-1 blockchains such as Aptos, Sui, and Solana, and have typically proved less volatile in addition. 

That said, by way of TVL, all of Sui, Aptos, and Near are far outpaced by Solana, which despite having fallen significantly since the collapse of FTX on most all fronts, remains head and shoulders higher with a total-value locked of more than $300 million.

Final Thoughts

As with any blockchain ecosystem in the current climate, the future of both the Near Protocol, and the NEAR asset, is far from certain. However, what is clear is that the journey is far from over. 

Near’s recent surge in activity, evident in both address and transaction-based metrics, is more than noteworthy, and doubly so given the conditions under which it occurs. It is also evident that the team behind Near is hard at work, with Near Protocol’s blog providing far more insights, updates, and announcements than nearly all cryptocurrency projects and ecosystems that exist today. 

As we enter into the final quarter of 2023, the following 6-12 months will be illuminating, showing whether Near Protocol can both maintain its impressive metrics, and simultaneously build out interest and liquidity in its DeFi ecosystem.