NEW YORK, May 24, 2022 – Today, Consensys announced a partnership between Infura, its leading blockchain development platform, and the NEAR Protocol, an infinitely scalable proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain that is also carbon neutral. The integration, which has been in private beta for two months - and is now widely available - marks Infura’s expansion beyond Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)-compatible chains. It also marks a strategic shift toward being a key connector in a multi-chain ecosystem, while improving the overall developer experience. The partnership also gives the NEAR Protocol community access to the more than 430,000 Infura developers already building and scaling the next generation of software in Web3. 

By integrating with NEAR Network, Infura developers will have greater access to a carbon-neutral ecosystem with minimal environmental footprint. Because NEAR operates on a unique sharded blockchain called Nightshade, it has limitless scaling capabilities allowing transaction-heavy decentralized applications to function effortlessly with low fees. Transactions are processed at 14 tps on Ethereum and 7 tps on Bitcoin. As it stands, NEAR embodies similar characteristics as the Ethereum 2.0 roadmap, including PoS and shard chains. Additionally, the partnership allows developers to build decentralized applications using popular programming languages such as Rust and AssemblyScript as well as provides developers access to superior learning resources. By integrating with the NEAR Protocol, Infura provides developers building on its platform greater access to a carbon-neutral ecosystem with minimal environmental footprint.

“The NEAR team has created a protocol that has resonated with our developer audience and we are excited to be supporting their protocol. The Web3 ecosystem continues to grow and innovate, and that innovation isn't limited to the Ethereum world,” said E.G. Galano, co-founder of Infura. 

Galano continued, “A few years ago, Ethereum was the only platform people considered when deploying new NFTs, DeFi apps, and tokens. Today, developers have many choices and each Layer 1 or Layer 2 protocol approaches scalability problems and usability problems in different ways, which is why we will continue to be an active participant in the NEAR community.”

Developers using Infura’s infrastructure-as-a-service platform have access to networks such as Ethereum, IPFS, and Polygon. The integration with NEAR will be Infura’s second with a non-EVM compatible chain, following the 2020 integration with Filecoin, a peer-to-peer network that facilitates open markets for storing and retrieving files. Furthermore, NEAR’s Rainbow Bridge, in which developers can transfer assets between Ethereum, NEAR, and Aurora, provides optimal security in a fraud-proof, permissionless protocol that puts the trust into technology and removes the need to trust any one person or organization. 

"We're very proud that NEAR is becoming the first non-ETH layer-one network supported on Infura and are excited to introduce NEAR to their sizable developer community,” said Illia Polosukhin, co-founder of NEAR Protocol. “Offering broader access to building on NEAR gives devs more options for scaling their decentralized applications easily and securely. NEAR and Infura are aligned in our vision of creating the best possible developer experience to make Web3 easier for all.”

Infura developers can access the NEAR Network now, and continue to advance the multi-chain ecosystem, while onboarding more users to Web3. The move also comes two months after Consensys announced the close of its $450 million Series D financing round, bringing the company’s total valuation to $7 billion. 

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About Consensys 

Consensys is a leading Ethereum and decentralized protocols software company. We enable developers, enterprises, and people worldwide to build next-generation applications, launch modern financial infrastructure, and access the decentralized web. Our product suite, composed of Infura, Quorum, Codefi, MetaMask, Truffle, Diligence and our NFT platform, serves millions of users, supports billions of blockchain-based queries for our clients, and has handled billions of dollars in digital assets. Ethereum is the largest programmable blockchain in the world, leading in business adoption, developer community, and DeFi activity. On this trusted, open source foundation, we are building the digital economy of tomorrow. To explore our products and solutions, visit https://consensys.io.

About NEAR

NEAR is a high-performance blockchain that is designed to be super-fast, incredibly secure, and infinitely scalable. NEAR’s vision is to create a network that enables people to reimagine finance, creativity, and community in new and inclusive ways.

NEAR is built by an award-winning team of engineers and entrepreneurs to be simple to use, inclusive and good for the environment. NEAR is backed by top VCs such as A16Z, Pantera Capital, Electric Capital, Dragonfly Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Blockchain.com, and Baidu Ventures. For more information, please visit https://near.org/