Nuffle Labs Announces $13M Fundraise
In recent years the L2 ecosystem has seen significant growth. NEAR Modular, a team within NEAR Foundation and Pagoda, was originally launched to offer NEAR’s cost-effective, fast, and proven tech to L2 AI and DePIN projects. The team is now ready to spin out of NEAR core as its own entity: Nuffle Labs.
What a day for the NEAR Protocol ecosystem! As of today Nuffle Labs is strategically positioned between the NEAR, Ethereum, and EigenLayer ecosystems, which will allow the team to leverage strengths from multiple platforms. Incubated in NEAR Foundation and Pagoda, Nuffle Labs is spinning out to build and advance NEAR’s modular product suite to support Ethereum’s rollup-centric future:
Understanding NEAR Data Availability (NEAR DA)
NEAR DA is the most scalable, cost-effective, and reliable data availability solution available today. Notably, upon its mainnet launch, RSS3, a user of NEAR DA, saw its costs drop dramatically to an average of $10 daily from $1,000. With a throughput of 24MB/s, NEAR DA outperforms competitors like Celestia, which offers 6.67MB/s. It supports multiple rollups, whether they are optimistic or ZK-rollups, offering:
- Cost Efficiency: Storing data on NEAR is significantly cheaper than on Ethereum, making blockchain technology more accessible.
- Effortless Validation: NEAR’s trustless off-chain light client simplifies validation, ensuring accurate and reliable transactions.
- User-Friendly Interaction: NEAR provides easy access to on-chain data through RPC, making blockchain interaction seamless for developers and users.
NEAR DA is especially well suited for applicants that produce large information/data such as DePIN and AI. Furthermore, AI projects using NEAR DA will have strong strategic alignment with NEAR and its vision for user-owned AI.
Exploring NEAR Fast Finality Layer (NFFL)
The NEAR Fast Finality Layer (NFFL) is an EigenLayer Actively Validated Service (AVS) designed to aggregate state across various rollups. Leveraging NEAR DA, NFFL offers a fast, universal, and secure finality layer, enhancing block finality across different protocols. It integrates additional public DA layers into the blockchain stack, paving the way for innovative cross-chain applications. Currently, NFFL is on testnet, and more information about the protocol can be found here.
Join the Open Web movement today
Committed to furthering innovation in modular blockchain design, blurring the boundaries between ecosystems, and contributing to a more efficient, scalable, and secure blockchain landscape, Nuffle Labs’ team has made remarkable progress within short time. The notable strategic grant investment of $7m from NEAR Foundation and the $6m in external funding led by Electric Capital, one of crypto’s top tier VCs, is a clear testament of what to expect from Altan, Sam, Firat and Donovan. They’re top doers on a mission to establish new partnerships while pushing the limits of the NEAR tech stack. We have never been more bullish on the direction of the NEAR ecosystem and wish Nuffle nuthin’ but godspeed ahead.
L2 builders interested in partnering with Nuffle Labs and potential job candidates are encouraged to reach out through the new website and follow their Twitter for the latest updates on NEAR DA and NFFL.
The future is NEAR, now LFG!
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About Nuffle Labs
Nuffle Labs is enhancing NEAR’s modular product suite, with a special focus on the NEAR Data Availability Layer (NEAR DA) and the NEAR Fast Finality Layer (NFFL). They’re committed to furthering innovation in modular blockchain design, blurring the boundaries between ecosystems, and contributing to a more efficient, scalable, and secure blockchain landscape.
About NEAR Protocol
NEAR is on a mission to onboard a billion users to the limitless possibilities of Web3 with chain abstraction. Leveraging its high-performance, carbon-neutral protocol, which is swift, secure, and scalable, NEAR offers a common layer for browsing and discovering the Open Web.
