Near is one of the few blockchain infrastructures that topples the current notion of centralized cloud space. Amazon and Google service relies heavily on the single-point data centers to help them achieve higher throughput, and ameliorate some of the processing overhead without requiring new players to enter the network. This methodology however actuates a new set of problems. Since centralized solutions unavoidably constitute a concentrated, single entity, they are more prone to untoward events and custodian heuristics, unlike their distributed counterparts. Peer-to-peer cloud blockchain service that incentivizes developers to build on it and glean rewards is something unheard of in the contemporary cloud space.
What is NEAR?
NEAR aims at creating a suite of convenient cloud-computing infrastructure powered by community-operated nodes instead of a singular governed entity. The biggest advantage NEAR has over its centralized equivalents is the distributed nature of the ledger. This advantage is more so patent if we are to examine a simple example of the DDOS attack that tends to happen quite frequently in contemporary space. Because NEAR represents a set of peers that exchange data between each other, it doesn’t have a central point of attack similar to the traditional cloud infrastructure. Therefore in the case of the DDOS attack, a perpetrator or better say a group of controlled peers is able to easily overturn and shut down service with one central point of “governance”. Another issue with controlled cloud space is the ability to alter, modify, and manipulate with the deployed applications which opens up a rift to potentially malicious exploits.
In essence, NEAR provides a robust peer-to-peer community-governed cloud ecosystem that leverages the power of the DLT to ensure the stability, visibility, and non-custodial nature of transactions within it. NEAR enables developers to creatively innovate by designing Defi products that will serve and propel the blockchain industry to new heights without a need to splurge on the exorbitant network fees and convoluted app development and deployment.
Every blockchain ecosystem is bound to be used/exploited in a nefarious way. This can include a swath of various illicit activities that can range from Money Laundering, hacking, phishing, or social engineering. These types of fraudulence are more so flourishing in unregulated and permissionless networks and represent one of the bottlenecks for the adoption of crypto in the same vein as traditional financing. This is exactly what HAPI sets out to rectify.
What is HAPI?
HAPI is a cybersecurity layer that is aimed at preventing and notifying entities within the HAPI Protocol network about potential threats of Money Laundering (ML), hacking, and other unauthorized transactions of funds. The irrefutable advantage of HAPI is the on-chain approach. All of the currently available solutions that work in a similar fashion are centralized and extensively governed single-point entities that operate off-chain. HAPI directly embeds smart contracts which essentially allows the most immediate notification and alerting system that is able to both prevent an adversarial attack, money laundering, and/or alleviate potential losses.
HAPI is essential in the prevention of aggravating attacks and ensuing money laundering. One can imagine HAPI to be an indispensable trigger-like system that almost instantaneously reacts to the nefarious activity and promptly notifies the network of all connected entities within the protocol about an attack. This gives a much-needed time frame for other entities to react and blacklist a given address from accessing their platform.
HAPI can be integrated into:
- Centralized Exchange (CEX). Centralized exchanges represent the very first vector of attack and money laundering that an adversary seeks to exploit. HAPI Protocol can be seamlessly integrated within any CEX and is designed to be easily adaptable, configurable, and interactable; embodying the unique case of decentralized security equivalent of one-point governed solutions
- Decentralized Exchange (DEX). Decentralized exchanges are poised to be beyond the reach of traditional security measures and therefore present a one-way street for Money Launderers and other malintent players to indiscriminately flood the peer-to-peer exchanges. The solution HAPI proposes relies on and retains a decentralized aspect while propping it up with AML properties, making the lives of hackers exceedingly less auspicious.
- Cross-chain Bridges. The contemporary cryptocurrency climate necessitates an active interoperable connection between blockchains. Today we have a myriad of bridges that allow an uninhibited transfer of tokens across multiple infrastructures. But this also creates a potential loophole for malicious actors to obfuscate and launder funds uninterruptedly. To combat that, HAPI Protocol can be efficiently integrated into the main endpoints or bridges to notify them about a hack/exploit that happened, essentially deadlocking the potentiality of transferring tokens to other blockchains.
The niche HAPI is aiming at is untapped but very crucial in the next phase of adoption of the digital currency medium.
The biggest aspect of HAPI that distinguishes it from the cybersecurity-centered projects is the focus on the comprehensive system of preventing ML and excluding malicious fund turnover by instituting a network system that notifies every entity within it about a threat.
HAPI Protocol is a publicly distributable SaaS solution that allows every project to integrate HAPI irrespective of the scope and utilize its existing database without any hindrance. Essentially becoming the cornerstone of the security and wallet address database aggregator that keeps every entity in the network up-to-date about the potential impending illicit activity.
HAPI and NEAR Partnership
Cooperation between NEAR and HAPI team will be rooted in the idea of expanding the ecosystem of NEAR by the way of new Launchpad on Near — Boca Chica Mars Edition, securing the blockchain from malicious activities such as Money Laundering and hacking attempts, and collectively extending the DeFi space on NEAR.
NEAR is going to become the mainstay for developers to fluidly build, or migrate their already built DApps on a superior and much more performant network that incorporates state sharding and eventually cross-sharding transactions.
