NEAR Protocol: A Scalable, User-Centric Blockchain
We are thrilled to announce IDEO CoLab Ventures’ participation in the latest venture funding round for Near, creators of NEAR Protocol, a developer-friendly blockchain for building decentralized applications.
What? Another smart contract platform? Yes. While there are dozens of other teams seeking to build more scalable blockchains capable of supporting use by billions of people, we’re excited about the amazing team at Near, and their relentless focus on usability for both developers and the end users of applications built on NEAR. This fits well with our team’s belief that blockchain technology and the industry as a whole has reached a point of maturation where an increasing emphasis on usability will be required to drive adoption by the next billion users.
IDEO is known for pioneering human-centered design, which extends far beyond user interfaces to taking a user-centered approach to designing all aspects of a product, experience, and venture. At IDEO CoLab Ventures, we believe this extends to protocol design. With the introduction of tools that are much more familiar to the developer community — think AssemblyScript, JSON-based contract interfaces, and an in-browser IDE — the Near team is building one of the best experiences for developers and users from the ground up.
The broader crypto ecosystem has identified some of the greatest barriers to adoption of decentralized applications, such as onboarding, key management, transaction fees, and an overemphasis on tokens as the lynchpin of many services. NEAR natively supports features that address these problems, such as meta transactions, contract-based accounts, and gas-fee rebates, all of which are discussed in detail in this post by Near’s CEO, Alex, exploring blockchain usability.
Near understands that shipping a performant, scalable smart contract protocol is only one step in the marathon. Creating a truly global platform will require building a community and an ecosystem that remains laser-focused on delivering world-class experiences accessible to anyone with a smartphone. We’re excited to work with the Near team and NEAR ecosystem in this journey. If you’re interested in joining us, check out the NEAR Beta Program, apply to join their team, or register to attend an upcoming workshop.
