In this episode, Jack Cub from Lightspeed engages with Illia Polosukhin and Bowen Wang from NEAR Protocol, delving into NEAR's innovative approaches to blockchain scalability, AI integration, and their vision for the future of decentralized applications. Illia, known for his contributions to the original Transformer paper, and Bowen, an early investor in Solana, provide deep insights into NEAR's advancements and strategic direction.
NEAR’s Vision: Blockchain for AI and Chain Abstraction
- “The thesis is that there will not be the need for separate apps, separate wallets, separate even chains going forward because AI is a universal interface.”
- “NEAR itself is becoming this coordination layer and center for the whole Web3 space.”
- NEAR aims to create a unified blockchain infrastructure that integrates AI, eliminating the need for multiple apps, wallets, or chains.
- The vision includes AI agents managing interactions across various services, providing a seamless user experience without blockchain complexities.
- NEAR's chain abstraction technology allows users to interact with multiple blockchains effortlessly, positioning NEAR as a central hub for Web3 activities.
Sharding and Scaling Technology in NEAR 2.0
- “We launched NEAR 2.0 last August with a new design that makes everything fully sharded.”
- “Block time is reduced to 400 milliseconds from 1 second.”
- NEAR 2.0 introduces a fully sharded architecture, enhancing scalability and performance.
- Validators are randomly assigned to shards each block, ensuring security through a sharding validation system.
- The transition to in-memory state management significantly boosts transaction speed and system stability.
- NEAR is expanding from six to eight shards, with plans for dynamic shard splitting to maintain balance and performance.
User Base and Application Growth
- “We have nearly 50 million monthly active users through chain abstraction technology.”
- “Applications like Kai and Hot Wallet drive significant user engagement.”
- NEAR’s user base is primarily driven by applications like Kai, embedded in operating systems, and the Hot Wallet, which supports multiple chains.
- These applications abstract the blockchain layer, allowing users to interact with NEAR without direct blockchain interaction.
- NEAR focuses on making blockchain technology accessible, aiming to integrate into everyday applications seamlessly.
Comparative Analysis with Other Chains and Layer Solutions
- “While Layer 2 solutions face fragmentation, NEAR’s abstraction simplifies the user experience.”
- “NEAR’s Aurora allows running customized EVM chains with lower maintenance costs.”
- NEAR differentiates itself by offering a chain-abstracted experience, avoiding the fragmentation issues seen with multiple Layer 2s.
- Aurora on NEAR enables developers to run customized EVM-compatible chains efficiently, reducing operational overhead.
- NEAR positions itself as a more scalable and user-friendly alternative to other blockchain solutions like Ethereum’s Layer 2.
Trust Execution Environments and Confidential Compute
- “Trusted Execution Environments offer verifiable and confidential computation using hardware-based security.”
- “NEAR leverages MPC for faster and more robust cross-chain operations.”
- NEAR utilizes Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs) to enable secure, verifiable computations off-chain.
- This approach ensures data confidentiality and integrity, essential for complex applications and AI integrations.
- NEAR’s use of Multi-Party Computation (MPC) enhances the security and efficiency of cross-chain transactions.
Key Takeaways:
- NEAR is pioneering a unified blockchain infrastructure integrating AI, eliminating the need for multiple chains and enhancing user experience.
- The launch of NEAR 2.0 with fully sharded architecture and reduced block times positions NEAR as a scalable and high-performance blockchain platform.
- NEAR’s focus on chain abstraction and Trusted Execution Environments sets it apart from other blockchain and Layer 2 solutions, offering a more seamless and secure user experience.
Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rK3jWJdDks
