MESSARI NEAR PROTOCOL Q1 REPORT [2023] : GROWTH & ADOPTION
From a new all-time high in active daily accounts, a 55% increase in circulating market cap, to unprecedented Open Web experiences with the Blockchain Operating System (bOS), Messari’s State of NEAR Q1 2023 report (written by Nicholas Garcia), highlights the resilience, innovation, and ever-growing potential of the NEAR Protocol.
‘Overall, NEAR had a strong Q1 2023, and its continued development and adoption of the bOS should lead to further growth and adoption in the coming quarters.’
- Nicholas Garcia, Messari’s ‘State of NEAR Q1 2023 Report’
TL;DR
- The outlook for NEAR is promising as the protocol continues to push the boundaries of its innovation with new technology, strategic partnerships, and a strong commitment to elevating community
- NEAR showed marked growth and consistency across critical verticals, such as DeFi, decentralisation, developer count, and daily active accounts amid adverse industry conditions
- NEAR has transformed from a Layer 1 into the Blockchain Operating System (bOS), unlocking true composability, interoperability, and Open Web experiences for all its users
Messari Report Highlights
1 — DeFi
A highlight of the Messari report is DeFi on NEAR, which represents a blooming ecosystem that is finally coming into its own. Market lows presented an opportunity for growth, which the NEAR Foundation, alongside ecosystem players like Proximity, have embraced with well-designed innovation.
Per the Messari report, NEAR had a ‘strong Q1 in terms of financial performance’ that saw a 55% QoQ increase in circulating market cap but took a hit to its Total Value Locked (TVL), which dropped by 32%. The primary cause of this drop was Alameda’s closing of all its DeFi exposure, withdrawing liquidity from both NEAR (~$35M) and Aurora (~$1.7M).
A post on Near Social by Proximity Labs and a thread by Aurora CEO Alex Shevchenko provide more context. That said, the NEAR ecosystem remained stable as daily active accounts reached an all-time high (~64,000), and major DeFi protocols like Ref Finance ($36M), Orderly ($7m), Burrow ($15M), and Bastion ($17M) maintained their TVL.
DeFi on NEAR is set to expand as the ecosystem continues to innovate and add to the already wild tech stack. NEAR Foundation announced a partnership with Circle to integrate native USDC. They also released a slew of new features to create low-friction onboarding, better user experiences, and improve multi-chain and wallet support.
2 — Developer Growth
The dev community on NEAR is up 20x from 2018 as the team continues to deliver great developer-friendly experiences and incentives. According to the report, NEAR has the fastest-growing developer ecosystem outside of Ethereum, with a 40% increase in 2022.
This means NEAR ranked among the top-performers like Solana and Polygon as decentralised networks with the most monthly active developers. The Protocol also incentivizes developers with a 30% cut from total transaction fees.
Expect developer presence to keep growing in Q2 as NEAR strikes new partnerships and continues to fund education programs and hackathons. This will be facilitated via the recent formation of DevHub, a self-sufficient community that empowers and supports the developers on NEAR.
3 — Community
With 1,000+ active projects, over 20 million wallets, thriving regional hubs and grassroots DAOs, NEAR is a large community with plenty of voices. Where others may see a challenge, NEAR sees an opportunity to leverage inclusiveness, diversity, and synergy in community. This led to the creation of the NEAR Digital Collective (NDC). This self-governance structure puts all aspects of decision-making (funding and voting) in the hands of the community.
Quick Updates
There have been a couple of major updates since the Messari report came out:
- NEAR Foundation has launched NEAR Horizon, a Foundation-led early-stage accelerator program motivated to level the playing field for builders by providing tailor-made support and attracting high quality founders to build on NEAR
- NEAR Protocol recorded a new record high for transactions, hitting 300 million
- The liquid staking layer has expanded with Metapool’s launch of stAUR, Aurora’s first liquid staking token, and is cross-compatible with Ethereum via EVM-supported wallets
Key Partnerships
Throughout Q1 and the current quarter, NEAR has signed a number of strategic partnerships to spread the reach and influence of Web3 and appeal to Web2 users and businesses:
- NEAR partnered with Cosmose AI to provide retailers with personalized retail experiences without sacrificing privacy and security
- For Web3-native founders, developers, and investors, NEAR brings advanced analytics to the ecosystem with its Nansen integration
- NEAR signed a partnership with Shemaroo, one of India’s content powerhouses. With over 200 million subscribers and 100+ million views daily, Shemaroo has the perfect platform to introduce NEAR and Web3 to a new audience while integrating new segments (NFTs, Metaverse experiences) into its content and brand
- Building on Aurora, Pipeflare will build games that allow gamers to play, earn crypto, and engage socially in a completely decentralised environment.
- Other notable partnerships include: Keypom, Dropt, Startup Wise Guys,the New York School of Professional Studies, Taco Labs, Absolute Labs, and Solaire.
Putting the Messari Report into Perspective
Pagoda’s NEAR Protocol 2023 Roadmap update at the end of Q1, followed by a flurry of massive announcements by the NEAR Foundation at EthDenver, Consensus , and their recent town hall, all reinforce the idea that NEAR’s successful Q1 is the materialisation of dedicated work by the ecosystem and an engaged community. At NEARWEEK, we can only anticipate the developments yet to come.
Original Source: Messari
Written by Ronin
Edited by @achildhoodhero
About NEAR Protocol
NEAR is on a mission to onboard a billion users to the infinite possibilities of Web3 with the Blockchain Operating System (BOS). Leveraging its high-performance, carbon-neutral protocol, which is fast, secure, and scalable, NEAR provides a common layer for browsing and discovering the Open Web.
About NEARWEEK
NEARWEEK is one of the first decentralised news sources within the NEAR ecosystem. Via the production of high-quality content, news, and promotional support, NEARWEEK unleashes the full potential of its media outlets to act as the social epicentre of the NEAR ecosystem.
Newsletter | Twitter | Website
