NEAR Protocol

Hello NEAR community (⋈), We open this week&#39;s newsletter with an important update from NEAR Foundation as it embraces a tough yet pivotal phase of transformation. Following a comprehensive review of its operations, NEAR Foundation is reducing its current team by 40%, primarily in marketing, business development, and community.  The protocol engineering team remains unaffected. The Foundation&#39;s strong treasury (still over $1B) ensures continued support for the NEAR Protocol&#39;s growth. Additionally, NEAR Foundation is committed to supporting the affected colleagues find new opportunities in, around and beyond the ecosystem, while expressing appreciation for their dedication and valued contributions. The full communiqué from NEAR Foundation CEO, Illia Polosukhin, is available <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;d45e70322d&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">here</a>. To all those affected by the internal change, we at NEARWEEK thank you for being an integral part of NEAR&#39;s journey, and as you transition to new ventures, we offer our best wishes.Speak soon!<h2 id="header-0"> TOP NEWS</h2><img src="https://mcusercontent.com/ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b/images/79e629e7-a2db-e5c4-24eb-934e641ed822.png" />NEAR PROTOCOL : TESTNET FOR PHASE TWO SHARDING IMMINENT  This next phase will introduce stateless validation and more shards to significantly reduce node requirements, boost validator inclusivity, leading to a leap in shard performance and overall network scalability. <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;65d07000c9&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a> NEAR x MMA&#43; : MMA FAN ENGAGEMENT NOW LIVES ON-CHAIN UFC Hall of Famer, Urijah Faber, has partnered with NEAR to launch a blockchain-powered fan engagement platform packed with personalised interactive features and much more. <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;94df2ecb6d&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a> NEAR PROTOCOL : PUBLISHES ROADMAP UPDATE The update rounds up 2023 achievements like meta transactions, zero-balance accounts, flat storage, etc, and projects into the protocol&#39;s planned deliverables for 2024, which include ethereum wallet support, zkWASM, stateless validation, account aggregation and more. <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;6ed7ddef19&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a> ILLIA POLOSUKHIN : SPEAKS ON THE AGE OF AI AT CFC 2024 On stage in St. Moritz, NEAR co-founder, Illia Polosukhin, delivered a keynote on the three steps to AI and Web3 convergence, citing chain abstraction, edge intelligence and AI governance. <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;024620fc0d&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a> ILLIA POLOSUKHIN : TEASES NEAR CHAIN ABSTRACTION STACK Featuring a scalable integrated blockchain supporting over 1 billion daily users, account aggregation for cross-chain transactions, a versatile data layer, intent relayers for complex cross-chain operations, and more, for unified app experiences and seamless web3 navigation. <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;ff74d83652&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a><h2 id="header-1"> DEVELOPERS</h2><img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/486dcc36847449a59e750fdaeba6e8c9.png" />NEAR DEVHUB : RECAPS PROTOCOL WORKING GROUP CALL #7 The focus of the assembly was the approval of NEP-488, which introduces runtime functions that could significantly improve network security and cross-chain compatibility. <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;c5bc1e7dd7&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a> BANYAN COLLECTIVE : $2K PAGODA-SPONSORED BOUNTY FOR CHAIN SIGNATURES IMPLEMENTATION This special bounty will reward developers for innovative implementations of chain signatures, a crucial cryptographic primitive for secure multi-party computation and account aggregation. <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;88165da01f&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a> NEAR DEVHUB : LAUNCHES JANUARY CODING CHALLENGE, REWARDS INCLUDE A DEVELOPER BADGE Developers are challenged to build a tool that identifies scam tokens in NEAR wallets, enables users to safely unregister the tokens from their wallets and recover their storage space. <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;d68ee80438&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a> NEAR DEVHUB : LAUNCHES A NEW RUST CHALLENGE  Participants are required to find errors within a Rust smart contract and rewrite the code. They can leverage DevHub&#39;s office hours for more context, or submit their snippets via a DevHub-run B.O.S component. <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;096ce3921e&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a> NEAR DEVHUB : HOSTS DECEMBER CODE CHALLENGE REVIEW ON X DevHub DevRels hosted participants from their December code challenge, reviewing the various submissions and talking about the overall experience. <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;0dcd32e462&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a>POWERED BY <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;fdce913333&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">NEAR DEVHUB</a> <h2 id="header-2">DEFI &amp; WALLETS</h2><img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/7fdd1451a78e49d292468455ea88de71.png" />UNIFAT : AN INSCRIPTION LAUNCHPAD ROLLS OUT ON NEAR The platform revolutionises inscription creation with a permissionless, decentralised approach, offering flexible minting and reduced network congestion. It features two inscription types: NRC20 for trading and NRC161, a unique NRC20-NEP141 hybrid that allows wrapping into NEP141 tokens. <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;c18a1821b3&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a> HERE WALLET : WEB VERSION WITH LEDGER AND METAMASK INTEGRATION IMMINENT The integrations and web wallet will introduce Metamask snaps, enabling users to access and explore NEAR directly via Metamask. <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;15e09f6979&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a> DRAGONBOT : A NON-CUSTODIAL TELEGRAM TRADING BOT LAUNCHES ON NEAR Offering a DEX-like experience, Dragonbot enables users to now directly trade on Ref Finance from within Telegram. The bot builds off NEAR&#39;s chain abstraction vision and unique tech stack to deliver cutting edge security and user experience. <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;0f83c42626&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a> NEAT : UNWRAP FEATURE GOES LIVE NEP-141 $NEAT holders can now seamlessly convert their tokens to NRC-20 based tokens. <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;f94c41e048&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a> AURONEAT : LAUNCHES $ANEAT, FIRST INSCRIPTION ON AURORA The platform is the first-ever inscription launchpad on Aurora, simultaneously introducing the first inscription token, $ANEAT, on the network. <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;d45ed43c3a&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a> PIKESPEAK : PUBLISHES ACTIVITY DATA ON MEMECOINS AROUND THE ECOSYSTEM The comprehensive analysis crunches the numbers underlining the impact of Blackdragon, Lonk and Shitzu on NEAR. It zooms in on holders, the correlation between holders and on-chain activity, and much more. <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;c1ffd1782d&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a><a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;4614b1c22c&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">DISCOVER DEFI GRANTS</a>POWERED BY <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;81824dfa58&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">PROXIMITY</a> <h2 id="header-3">ECOSYSTEM &amp; COMMUNITY</h2><img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/d6799d22f55e473794348c27ce66ab60.png" />ILLIA POLOSUKHIN : JOINS EPICENTER PODCAST, TALKS NEAR, AI, SHARDING AND MORE The NEAR co-founder was hosted by the Epicenter podcast, where he talked about NEAR&#39;s nightshade sharding, modularity and chain abstraction, tackling the scalability trilemma and more. <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;de81c2071b&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a> MARKETING DAO : REITERATES SUPPORT TO FOUNDERS IN THE ECOSYSTEM  In an open call to founders in the ecosystem, the DAO invited them to take advantage of its various funding avenues. <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;a39b09e110&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a> NEKO MORNING SHOW : HOSTS BLOCKCHAIN BOY IN LATEST EPISODE <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;d8369fcf13&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a> AURORA WEEKLY UPDATES 2024-01-12 <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;d87ee5e2ab&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a>NEKO : $125K FUND FOR NEAR CONTENT CREATORS Empowering NEAR-native content creators and their vital role in ecosystem growth: Explore, apply, contribute. <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;cd9deb2011&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a> <h2 id="header-4">OTHER OPEN WEB NEWS</h2><img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/71ad38a30f7e4be384254f6e471ab23f.png" />Dive into the Open Web! &#39;In Other News&#39; proudly collates a carefully selected assortment of headlines from external Web3 platforms, curated just for you.SEC OFFICIALLY APPROVES SPOT BITCOIN EFT <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;57322ae13e&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a> CIRCLE FILES FOR IPO IN THE US <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;09e87ab59c&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a> VITALIK ENDORSES RAISING ETHEREUM GAS BY 33% TO IMPROVE NETWORK CAPACITY  <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;dc2909b25b&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a> X REMOVES SUPPORT FOR NFT PROFILE PICTURES <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;f3d2315781&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a>BASE PUBLISHES 2024 ROADMAP <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;aad567dff7&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LINK</a> <h2 id="header-5"> GET ONBOARDED TO NEAR</h2><img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/101bdae34a1a4635945c2839298e161c.png" /><ul><li><a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;4a222bf52e&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">BOUNTIES &amp; GIGS ON HEROES</a></li><li><a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;abd671a44a&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">NEAR PROTOCOL JOB BOARD</a></li><li><a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;129a660eca&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">LEARN NEAR AND EARN REWARDS</a></li></ul>UPCOMING NEAR EVENTS<ul><li>FEB 23: <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;dbe48b339c&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ETHDENVER</a></li><li>MAR 27: <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;3e7b959925&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">BUIDL ASIA</a> Want to join the curation of news in NEARWEEK? Join our news community <a href="https://nearweek.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u&#61;ed13caf5cf7d37689d81ef60b&amp;id&#61;a42e43d3f6&amp;e&#61;9b2a69bba4" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">chat</a> on Telegram!</li></ul>

NEARWEEK ISSUE 143

Table of Contents

NEARWEEK

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