Despite the bearishness of the global crypto market, India remains a top priority for several international blockchain projects, networks and projects.
Several global players are now looking to India as it has a reputation for being the next big hub of web developer talent and having a large consumer base.
Ethereum, Solana and BNB chains have become staples in India’s Web3 space. These are known as layer 1 blockchains (basic layer or network). Polygon, a Layer 2 solution, is also the market leader in India.
Now another one is joining the mix: shortly — A promising Layer 1 project that uses sharding to solve blockchain scalability problems.
Looking to India, NEAR is actively fostering startups to boost blockchain talent development and innovation.
The goal is to have 5 million monthly active users (MAUs) from India enrolled in NEAR by the end of the year.
It joins Ethereum, Polygon and other prominent chain ecosystems to tap into India’s tech and developer talent pool.
NEAR India’s idea is to bring mainstream adoption of Web3 apps and networks through collaboration, working closely with Web2 brands and start-ups.
The original plan was to set up a physical incubator, but due to the bear market conditions, NEAR’s India team decided to run a virtual incubator while setting up a small office space in Bengaluru for physical meetings and pitches. decided to keep
“We will launch in September 2022 to bring NEAR’s technology, infrastructure and DApp ecosystem to a wide range of startups and developers,” said Yash Kanchan, Director of NEAR India.
“We have started talking to NEAR and its non-profit NEAR Foundation to build a regional hub in India and seek help in terms of development and funding… So far, we have We are already working on 11 promising startup projects, all ready and ready to go live.”
Mass Adoption for Web3
NEAR India not only helps startups nurture their Web3 projects from idea stage to minimal viable product MVP, but also helps them onboard non-Web3 brands.
NEAR, a wellness platform glow fitter is running a fitness challenge to onboard 100,000+ users to Web3. The platform, which claims to have over 500,000 active users, is looking to shift some of its user activity to Web3, such as user wallets.
Growfitter’s onboarding wallet service is Leapanother platform being incubated at NEAR India.
Through this service, we will provide a simplified wallet dashboard service to the NEAR ecosystem, allowing anyone to connect their wallet and manage their portfolio.
“The projects we have selected are backed by strong investors and have strong fundamentals that will allow them to survive the bear market. Many brands are open to having in-depth conversations about including blockchain in their tech stack.”
How NEAR works
As a Layer 1 blockchain, NEAR employs sharding technology to achieve scale and features cross-chain interoperability. Rainbow Bridge and layer 2 products auroraAurora allows developers to operate apps on Ethereum-compatible platforms.
Yash and Kanchan ensure network strength in wallets, bridges, and sharding infrastructure to securely onboard and host millions of users.
If mass adoption and enterprise use cases for Web3 are to become a reality, we need a chain that can handle massive amounts of transactions without sacrificing security or decentralization.
Sharding has the potential to fix existing limitations on blockchain scaling.
In simple terms, this process involves grouping the participants (nodes) of a blockchain network into subsets (shards) so that transactions can only be performed by specific shards rather than the entire network. . This reduces the transaction burden for larger chains.
So sharding does not require the entire chain to reach consensus on that particular transaction. NEAR is one of the pioneers to adopt this technology in 2020, Alex Skidanov When Ilya Poroskin.
It secures the network using a Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism and provides an ecosystem for developers to build and deploy decentralized applications or DApps.
“We are looking at ways to enable apps to be deployed on NEAR using JavaScript, which is a more mainstream language than the Web3 languages Solidity and Rust. We will be able to,” added Yash.
NEAR’s Aurora Chain is separate from Ethereum, the most dominant DApp ecosystem in terms of value, number of developers, projects and mindshare, but NEAR’s Aurora Chain is compliant with the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM). , enabling interoperability and value transfer between Ethereum-based and other EVM chains. .
NEAR’s India team is also focused on strengthening brand relationships with users through Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) that steadily increase in value and are immune to volatile market conditions.
For example, an NFT that proves a user’s membership or brand subscription only creates value over time.
NEAR India believes that the combination of all these capabilities will create a strong use case for Web2 brands and start-ups to join and deploy the NEAR Protocol.
“At the moment, Ethereum is the most dominant ecosystem. Over time, as we onboard more brands, we can get more monthly users. It puts the product in the spotlight and makes it easier for the public to see it,” explains Aayush.
Web3 big market
NEAR India is currently working to get a cohort of 11 startups up and running on Web3 Play.
In addition to Growfitter and Leap, the team works closely together. bitverse – fantasy game apps, electronic laboratory – Zero Knowledge (ZK) Blockchain Solution, Binox – Crypto tax and compliance platform, starder lab – liquid staking network, router protocol – Cross-chain bridges, etc.
By aggressively penetrating the Indian startup ecosystem, NEAR seeks to build a strong community of users and developers to rival market leaders Ethereum, Polygon and Solana.
Entry into India demonstrates a strong interest in leveraging the country’s technology ecosystem.
In fact, according to a recent NASSCOM report, 90% of digital companies are using blockchain, artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML), Internet of Things (IoT), artificial or virtual reality (AR/VR), and Other new technologies.
A NASSCOM report released amid the crypto recession found that 11% of the world’s Web3 talent is from India, with a 138% increase in blockchain and crypto jobs since 2018.
NEAR’s bet on India is based on several such factors. Developing and investing in the NEAR India initiative to identify quality Web2 and Web3 startups.
Marieke Flament, CEO of NEAR, said: Foundation at the launch of this regional hub.